This gluten free Italian Apple Strudel is the perfect dessert for the Fall. If you are not familiar with it, strudel is a popular pastry that’s traditional of the area around Austria, Bavaria and Northern Italy (particularly in the region of Trentino-Alto Adige).
This delicious dessert is made of apples, pine nuts and raisins all folded inside a flakey, paper-thin shortcrust shell.
Normally, this dessert is prepared with regular flour, butter and breadcrumbs. My healthy Italian Apple Strudel is gluten free, dairy free and vegan so that everybody can enjoy it! I baked this gluten free apple strudel with my mom, and we tried to transform her traditional recipe for it into a healthy, allergy free one… and it came out amazing!
The strudel filling can be modified to your liking. I love Golden Delicious apples and normally use those, but Rennet apples would be great as well. Also, I sometimes like to use half apples and pears to give it a more diverse flavor. And I love to add in walnut pieces and to replace or combine raisins with chunks of dried apricots as well.
How do You Fold an Apple Strudel?
Here’s how to shape (and fold) an Italian apple strudel. Roll out the dough in between two sheets of parchment paper, trim off any excess and give it a rectangular shape.
Transfer the sheet of parchment paper that holds the rolled dough over a baking tray, and spread the apple mixture in the middle of the dough, creating a central line of filling like you see in the photos.
Helping yourself with the parchment paper sheet on which your strudel is sitting, fold in the short ends of the dough, and press gently on the edges to make them stick together.
Because the gluten-free pastry shell is a lot crumblier than a regular one, help yourself with the baking paper to hold the strudel tightly.
I added some photos of the folding process to make it easier for you to follow along and replicate my Italian Apple Strudel to perfection. The purpose of making little cut outs on side of the pastry shell is to allow the steam of the apple filling to come out easily.
As you probably already know very well, gluten free doughs are a lot less elastic than the regular ones made with wheat flour. The pastry shell might break in a few spots and it’ll be a bit crumbly. But that doesn’t mean it’s any less delicious!!
To prevent the pastry shell from breaking, make sure you wait until the apple strudel has cooled off completely before you cut it. And if you are looking for something delicious to pair your strudel with, match it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or creamy, Greek style coconut yogurt. It’ll be even better!
Want More Gluten Free Apple Desserts?
If you like apple-based, spiced desserts, make sure to check out the recipes for my:
This is the perfect time of the year to try them and I am sure you are going to love them!
Gluten Free Apple Strudel
Ingredients
Pastry Shell:
- ¾ cup + 1 tbsp Almond Flour
- 1 ¼ cup Organic Corn Starch
- 4 tbsp full fat Coconut Milk
- 3 tbsp Coconut Oil
- 1 ½ tbsp Coconut Sugar
- 1 tbsp Maca Powder or Mesquite Powder
- 1 tbsp freshly squeezed Orange Juice or Coconut Water
- ½ tsp ground Cinnamon
- ½ tsp Ginger Powder
Strudel Filling:
- 2 Golden Delicious Apples 1.2 lb – 566 gr
- ¼ cup Raisins
- 1 ½ tbsp Lemon Juice 1/2 a Lemon
- 2 tbsp Water
- 1 tbsp Organic Corn Starch
- ½ tsp ground Anise
- ½ tsp ground Cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground Nutmeg
- ½ tsp ground Ginger
- ¼ cup Walnuts
- Grated zest of 1 Lemon
Instructions
- Peel and chop the apples in small pieces, place them in a medium size saucepan, together with all the other ingredients, and make sure to add the starch and water for last. Mix well and cook on low, with a lid on, for about 10 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes.
- In the meantime, prepare the pastry shell.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F and cover a casserole with parchment paper.
- Combine all ingredients in a food processor (or in a large bowl), and blend (or knead) until you have a nice ball of dough.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C).
- Roll out the dough in between two sheets of parchment paper to a 4 mm (1/8 inch) thickness and trim off any excess to give it a rectangular shape (30 x 10 cm – 11.9” x 4”).
- Transfer the sheet of parchment paper that holds the rolled dough over a baking tray.
- Spread the apple mixture in the middle of the dough, creating a central line of filling like you see in the photos. If you want, you can create a little motif on one of the sides cutting out little shapes with a small cookie cutter. This is optional, but it will help excess steam from the baking apples escape without affecting the strudel.
- Helping yourself with the parchment paper sheet on which your strudel is sitting, fold in the short ends of the dough, and press gently on the edges to make them stick together.
- Because the gluten-free pastry shell is a lot crumblier than a regular one, help yourself with the baking paper to hold the strudel tightly.
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes depending on your oven, and serve warm, ideally paired with a scoop pf dairy free vanilla ice cream!
Nutrition
I am excited to see your recreations of my gluten free Italian Apple Strudel, so make sure to take a photo and tag me when you share it on Instagram!! Don’t forget to share this recipe with your friends on Facebook, save it on your favorite Pinterest board and subscribe to my weekly newsletter so that you never miss a post!!
Lots of love and I will catch you at the next recipe!
Ambra
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8 Comments
Grazie mille per questo ricete. My Mum is from Friuli and she called it ‘struccolo di pomi’. She also used to call me that as a term of endearment. My daughter is a Coeliac (Celiac) and I would like to try your recipe one day.
Grazie
Grace
Thanks so much Grace, I am excited for you to try it and I send a big hug to your daughter!
Ambra
Her name is Amber which is Ambra in english. She’s 23 and has been gluten free since the age of 2!
Nice name 🙂
Looks delicious! Would it work to substitute the corn starch for tapioca starch?
Thanks!
Thanks so much Lisa! I didn’t test it with tapioca and I am pretty sure it would have be a different amount. But I do know you can sub corn starch with rice starch!
Looks delicious, but we have tree nut allergy in our house. Would a regular gluten free flour mix work for this dough?
Thanks so much Brittany! I haven’t tested it with a GF flour mixture, but I would suggest you try and use the pastry recipe I used for my Fig Newtons, which is completely nut free: https://www.littlebitesofbeauty.com/grain-free-fig-newtons-paleo-aip/
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