This journey for this Christophine (Chayote) Strudel started in 2020. For the past few months we’ve been researching recipes that call for paper thin doughs. It all started with a Mark Weins video where he was eating a Canai Roti which led us down a rabbit hole of recipes. Eventually we zeroed in on a Strudel recipe by Ursula of lilvienna.com
Strudel is a layered pastry that is typically sweet and filled with fruit. Apple Strudel is a popular recipe but we want to give it a local twist.
Christophine or Chayote is a great substitute for apples because it literally is a blank slate in terms of flavor but when cooked it can result in an almost indistinguishable texture to cooked apples. The Christophine was cooked with a combination of citrus and spices that resulted in a very flavorful filling. This was a recipe was a challenge for Jyneelle who is a professionally trained pastry chef. Even though the end result wasn’t a resounding success, it definitely isn’t a fail either. We decided to share the process anyway. Hope you enjoy.
Christophine (Chayote) Strudel
Strudel Dough
- 1/3 cup lukewarm water
- 1 tbsp and 1/2 tsp oil
- 1/2 tsp lemon juice
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 145g flour (we used half double 0 and half all purpose)
- flour for dusting
- oil to grease the bowl
Method
- Mix together all wet ingredients and then half of the flour. Mix this thick batter for about two minutes
- Add in extra flour and kneed the dough until it is very smooth (minimum ten minutes)
- Rest the dough in a greased bowl covered with cling for an hour.
- Roll out dough to about 15 inches in length on a lightly floured surface.
- Stretch the dough out by lifting it and using back of your hands and knuckles to stretch the dough out.
- Rest dough onto a floured table cloth and continue stretching until it is as thin as possible.
- Cover have of the stretched dough with filling, leaving an inch of space around the edges to fold in.
- Butter the un filled side of the dough
- Use the table cloth to roll the streusel up and careful place onto a tray
- Bake at 375F or 190 C for about 30 minutes or until golden.
- Cool for 10-15 minutes before serving. Best eaten with a scoop of ice cream.
Christophine (Chayote) Filling
- 4 Christophines peeled and cut into pieces (please use gloves)
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp Ginger
- 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp tonkabean
- 1 tsp cardamom
- zest of one lemon
- juice of one lemon
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 tbsp sugar
Method
- Put all ingredients into a sauce pan and cook on low heat for half hour, stirring intermittently or until christophine is tender. (leave lid on to help cooking process and prevent mixture from drying out and burning)
- Set aside to cool before use.
