Aldi Fruits of the Forest Strudel (Deutsche Küche) Review

I probably have bad strudel karma for life.

I bought this frozen strudel during Aldi’s bi-annual “German Week” event. I don’t shop at Aldi often, but the ads for German Week were highly tantalizing. I ended up with an entire cartload of unexpected products. Well played, Aldi. Well played.

You get two big, raw, frozen strudels per box. These pastries are as big as a flattened guinea pig. Each strudel is 3 servings, says the box. Who listens to the box? Not you. You read snarky blogs instead. Eat as much strudel as you want, my friend. Eat the whole strudel.

The pastries aren’t wrapped inside the box, which surprised me. They just slide out, all naked and exposed, like newborn twins. I was impressed that they were not broken or freezer-burnt. I baked mine for about 25 minutes at 400 degrees in my countertop toaster/air fryer oven. I used a foil-lined pan, but I wished I had sprayed it with a non-stick spray first, because the pastry stuck after baking. It was also slightly uncooked on the bottom. Bah. Don’t be like me. Use non-stick spray. Also, you can flip it over and cook the bottom a bit, if necessary — I cooked mine upside-down for an extra 3 minutes to fix the rawness.

Yes, I burnt my strudel. It was an accident. I apologize to all pastries in the universe for my abhorrent crime. I will probably have bad strudel karma for life. It still tasted mighty good, just a bit like a campfire cookout.

If you are using an air-fryer toaster like me, try setting the pan lower in the oven and/or reducing the heat below 400 degrees.

I was impressed by how flaky the pastry is. It strikes a great balance between crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside. The jumbo sugar grains on top are an excellent textural contrast, and there’s a sort of shiny, sugary glaze that forms over the pierced top. Minus the campfire charring, this tasted like something I might have purchased at a legit bakery.

The filling was not what I expected. I thought it would be more berries. Maybe cherries. It doesn’t look like the picture on the box (more pink than red), and it tastes mainly like apples. If I’d read the ingredients before buying, that would have been obvious to me. Apples are the first ingredient. I hope you like apples.

There are a few bits of red currants, blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries. I found a few cronchy seeds. The cinnamon taste is very slight, but pleasant. No artificial colors or flavors. Overall, I liked the filling, but it wasn’t as good as I had hoped from the product pictures. Not as tart/tangy or richly flavorful as I’d expected. It’s good, just different. Once I adjusted my expectations, I was perfectly happy.

A delightful thing about the filling is that it doesn’t ooze out of the pastry when baking or eating.

Cooling and Storage

I actually liked the strudel better after it had cooled down, and it tasted great even after being stored in my refrigerator. I wrapped it tightly in aluminum foil. However, it wasn’t quite as fresh the next day, since the pastry no longer had the lovely crisp texture. I would bake this the same day you want to serve it, but it doesn’t need to come right out of the oven to taste wonderful — cook it earlier in the day, if you like.

Price and Shelf-life

This is made in Germany. Mine expires roughly two years from the date of purchase, so it has a long freezer-life. I paid $3.29 for the box of two strudels, so that’s only $1.65 per strudel. A good value for on-demand, bakery-quality pastries. Great for late-night strudel cravings. I’d buy this again. And no, I wasn’t paid to say that.