Homemade apple cheese. Recipe from cake, Antonovka, white filling with walnuts, cranberries, cinnamon, cumin. Step by step

In terms of its composition, apple cheese is the most boiled, and then pressed and dried fruit jam. But both in taste and consistency, this Baltic dessert is a unique national dish, unlike anything else. Today we will bring to your attention this rather simple but wonderful recipe. Let's create a traditional Lithuanian dish, which is usually prepared in advance and cut and eaten at Christmas - apple cheese. It’s hard to say what this aromatic sweetness will look like? Maybe a dense apple marmalade, topped with nuts and cinnamon: it’s so special and delicious!

How to make apple cheese at home

Actually, in Lithuania, the dish is prepared from the Antonovka variety, since it contains a huge amount of pectin. However, from experience, you just need to take apples of the sweet and sour or sour variety - any. The very preparation of a dish such as apple cheese may look like chopping fruits with sugar, followed by long-term boiling of the resulting puree. When the thick mass decreases significantly in volume and thickens greatly, add nuts and an aromatic component - cinnamon. Then we press the jam in this form and dry it for at least 2 weeks (which is quite difficult to withstand without trying the deliciousness). But when the Lithuanian dessert - apple cheese - is fully ripe, it becomes dense and rich in taste, aroma, with an original aftertaste. It’s worth trying to cook it at least once - with the help of its smell and taste, your imagination will transport you to a European Christmas fairy tale. And although we are not Lithuanians, we also love to eat delicious food!

Baked apples recipe

At home, you can prepare aromatic apple cheese from baked fruits, and if you have a dehydrator, you can easily speed up the drying process.

Composition of ingredients

You need to prepare the following set of ingredients:

• 2.5 kg of sour apples;
• 300-500 g granulated sugar;
• 100 g peeled walnuts;
• 1 tbsp. l. chopped orange or lemon zest;
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon;
• 1 tsp. ground cloves.

Step-by-step cooking process

To begin with, the apples should be thoroughly washed and dried, and the oven should be preheated to a temperature of 180 degrees.

1. It is necessary to cut each fruit into 4 parts, remove the core and place on a baking sheet.

2. Now you should put the apples in a hot oven for 40 minutes until they become soft.
3. After this, you should transfer the baked fruits into a colander and leave for 12 hours to allow excess moisture to come out.
4. Then you need to beat the apples with granulated sugar to a light, homogeneous puree using a mixer. If the mass is not thick enough, you will have to boil it further on the stove, in a slow cooker or in the microwave until it reaches the required viscous and dense consistency.
5. Then you need to add the necessary spices, chopped zest and fried nuts, mix thoroughly and distribute all the components over the apple mass.
6. Now you should put the warm jam into silicone molds, cool and put under pressure for 24 hours so that the mass is formed.
7. Then you need to carefully remove the dense semi-finished product from the mold and place it on the dehydrator tray, turning on the warm air for 6-10 hours, and then set the cool air blowing for another 12 hours.
8. After this, the cheese must be allowed to ripen well in a ventilated area at room temperature to complete the fermentation process.

How to serve a dish

The finished dish can be cut into pieces and rolled in poppy, sesame or flax seeds. Traditionally, the dish was prepared from Antonovka apples, since they are very aromatic, but cannot be stored for a long time; they were processed first. But in fact, tasty and healthy apple cheese can be made from any sweet, sour or sour fruit, adjusting the taste with the required amount of sugar. You can take carrion, just carefully cut out the dark areas of the pulp and wormholes.

The more sugar added to the apple mass, the denser the finished fermented ripened cheese is.

As a fragrant addition, you can add ground cinnamon, zest of any citrus fruit, ginger, cumin or cloves to any recipe. Apple cheese also goes well with various nuts and seeds or a varied combination of them.

For a brighter taste, they can be pre-fried in a dry frying pan. You can add dried cranberries, cherries, pitted dates or any candied fruits to the apple mass, but then you should adjust the amount of sugar.

The formed head should easily separate from the fabric or gauze. If the mass sticks, this means that the jam was not boiled down enough. Then you should leave the cheese under pressure longer so that excess moisture comes out of it, but to prevent the product from spoiling, it is advisable to place it in a cool place, not forgetting to remove the released liquid. After pressing, the dry semi-finished product should hold its shape well.

The fermentation process takes several months; the longer the product matures, the tastier it becomes.

At home, aromatic apple cheese must be kept for at least 1-1.5 months, but it is better longer so that the product dries on a wire rack in a well-ventilated place and ripens, acquires a dense and springy consistency with a dried crust.

Ingredients

The process of preparing apple cheese is quite lengthy, but not at all difficult: anyone, even a novice kitchen owner, can handle it. For this we need apples. Traditionally, apple cheese in Lithuania, as already mentioned, is brewed from Antonovka.

The ingredients are as simple as 3 kopecks: two kilos of apples, half a kilo of sugar, a handful of peeled walnuts, the same amount of almonds and a small pinch of cinnamon. That's all you need to make real Lithuanian apple cheese. And now - in more detail, step by step!

A healthy treat made from apple pulp

Apple cheese at home is even easier to prepare in the microwave, and it can be made not only from whole fruits, but also from extracts from prepared fruit juice.

Composition of ingredients

For a quick version of apple cheese, you need to take the ingredients in the following proportions:

• 500 g of pulp from apples of the “White filling” variety or any other;
• 0.5 tsp. cinnamon;
• 100 g honey;
• 0.5 tsp. citric acid;
• 30 g dried cranberries.

Step-by-step cooking process

The process of making apple cheese from pomace differs from the traditional recipe:

1. It is necessary to place the apple pulp in a deep, heat-resistant glass bowl, remove large pieces of skin, smooth it out and put it in the microwave at full power for about 10-15 minutes.
2. Then you need to carefully remove the hot mold with the mixture and cool slightly, kneading thoroughly so that the steam comes out along with the excess liquid.
3. After this, you need to place the dishes in the microwave again for 10 minutes and repeat mixing, monitoring the condition of the mass. If the squeezes were too dry to begin with, you may need to add a small amount of water or cook them a few times under the lid so that the liquid does not evaporate too quickly and the apples have time to cook.
4. The cyclical process of boiling and mixing applesauce should be repeated 4 to 7 times, adjusting the time and power of the process if necessary. The mass should greatly decrease in volume and acquire a uniform, smooth consistency.
5. Now you need to add spices, honey and dried cranberries to the thick jam, mix all the ingredients thoroughly so that they are evenly distributed throughout the entire volume.
6. Then transfer the resulting mass into silicone molds, compact and level the surface, place again in the microwave at an average power level of 300 to 400 W for 10-15 minutes, periodically opening the door to release steam and check the consistency. The surface of the semi-finished product should dry evenly.
7. After this, you can remove the cheese from the mold, wrap it tightly in a cloth and place it under pressure for 12 hours.
8. Next, the formed cheese heads must be dried on a wire rack in a well-ventilated place for 1 week, turning occasionally. You can speed up the drying process in an electric dryer, first with warm air and then with cold air for 12 hours.

9. Now the cheese should be wrapped in parchment or clean natural cloth and allowed to ripen for about 4-6 weeks.

What can I add?

Honey can be removed from the recipe by replacing it with any other sweetener.

How to serve a dish

Ripe apple cheese must be cut into slices or pieces of any shape; you can roll it in cocoa powder and serve as a dessert.

Apple cheese. Basic recipe

1. Wash fresh apples, remove seeds and stem. We do not remove the skin. Cut the fruits into small slices and place them in a thick-walled container (cauldron, saucepan, duck pot). 2 kilos of apples – peeled.
2. Add granulated sugar; its quantity can be adjusted to taste. But even for those with a sweet tooth: 500 grams is more than enough.
3. Stir and leave the mass for 8 hours (overnight) in a cool place (for example, you can take it out to the balcony), the fruits release juices and the sugar dissolves. Fruit slices descend and decrease in volume.
4. Place the container on low heat and simmer for 25 minutes after it boils, covering with a lid. The apple pieces should become soft. You can gently stir the contents several times.
5. Now we put a few slices in another bowl - about 15 pieces. Then we will add them to the finished apple jam.

Cooking step by step:

To prepare apple cheese, take sweet and sour or sour apples, granulated sugar, nuts and ground cinnamon. I used walnuts and sweet almonds, but you can just use walnuts or any others you like. Whether to add cinnamon or not is also up to you, since some people don’t really like this aromatic spice.

Fresh apples need to be washed, seed pods and stalks removed. There is no need to remove the skin. Cut the apples into thin slices and place them in a large thick-walled pan (cauldron or duck pot). One and a half kilograms of apples are already peeled.

Sprinkle with granulated sugar, the amount of which can be easily adjusted to your liking. For us sweet tooths, 300 grams was enough.

Mix everything and leave the apples for 6-8 hours (preferably overnight) in a cool place (I took it out onto the balcony) so that they release juice and the sugar dissolves.

Do you see how the fruit slices have sank and decreased in volume? Approximately half of the slices were filled with apple juice and sugar.

Place the pan on medium heat and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes after everything boils. We need the apple slices to become soft. You can gently stir the contents of the pan a couple of times.

Now let's put some apple slices in a separate bowl - literally 10-15 pieces. We will then add them to the finished apple jam. Add ground cinnamon.

Grind the remaining softened apples in sweet syrup using an immersion blender into a completely homogeneous and smooth puree. You can pass it through a meat grinder if you don’t have such an electrical appliance. Again, set the heat to below medium and cook for quite a long time, stirring from time to time. I half-covered the pan with a lid, since the apple jam spits very much, almost to the ceiling. You need to boil it for at least 2 hours so that the mass evaporates and thickens very much.

In the meantime, let's take care of the nuts - they must be peeled. The nuts need to be roasted or dried. For this I use the microwave at the highest power for about 3 minutes. Every minute I open the door and stir the nuts so that they don’t burn. You can do this on the stove in a frying pan or in the oven.

Let the toasted nuts cool. and then chop them with a knife quite coarsely so that there are pieces and not crumbs.

When the apple mass becomes very thick and begins to move away from the walls of the dish, you need to continuously stir so that the jam does not burn.

Add the nuts and apple slices that we previously left to the pan. Remove from the stove and mix everything carefully so that the apples and nuts are evenly distributed throughout the boiled apple mass.

Now you need to prepare a deep bowl and a piece of gauze folded in 3-4 layers. Soak the gauze in cold water and squeeze it thoroughly - it should be damp, but not wet. Place the cheesecloth in a bowl and add the apple-nut mixture there. Level with a spoon or spatula. Let it cool completely in this state.

Then carefully roll up the gauze so that it holds the apple mass. Transfer to a board or large flat dish.

Puree

The remaining apples should be completely softened. Let them cool and grind the mass using an immersion blender directly in the container to a homogeneous smooth puree. You can, of course, put it through a meat grinder if you don’t have such a blender at hand. Place the mixture on low heat again and cook for a long time, stirring hour after hour. In this case, the lid must be covered halfway, as the jam splashes a lot, sometimes right up to the ceiling. Boil for at least 2 hours until the mixture has evaporated and thickened sufficiently.

Nuts

Next, Lithuanian apple cheese is prepared as follows. We deal with nuts - they are peeled and roasted (can be dried). A microwave at high power (literally 2-3 minutes) is good for these purposes. At the same time, open the doors several times and stir the nuts so as not to burn. But you can do it on the stove in a frying pan or in the oven. Let the roasted (dried) nuts cool slightly, and then chop them with a knife into fairly large pieces (not crumbs).

Final procedures

How to make Lithuanian apple cheese at home? The recipe needs to be continued. When the jam mass becomes very thick, moving away from the walls of the container, you must stir continuously so that it does not burn.

1. Add the nuts and those apple slices that we left before boiling to the container. Remove the pan from the stove and carefully mix the resulting mixture so that the apples and nuts are distributed as evenly as possible throughout the apple mass.
2. Now we take a deep bowl, as well as a piece of gauze, which we fold in several layers. We soak the gauze in cool water and squeeze it well - it needs to be damp, but not too wet. Place the gauze in a bowl and spread the boiled mixture on it. Level with a wooden spatula. And in this state, let the semi-finished product cool completely.
3. And after that, carefully roll up the gauze so that it holds the apple mass. Place everything on a board or in a large shallow dish.

What is apple cheese and how to make it

Adding an article to a new collection

Apple cheese is a traditional Lithuanian dish usually prepared for Christmas. However, you don’t have to be tied to the holiday to prepare such a wonderful delicacy. It is made from apples and sugar with the addition of spices, nuts and candied fruits.

Why is this dessert called cheese? Only because it is boiled for a long time, then pressed, dries, ripens and eventually turns out to have a fairly elastic consistency, like ordinary cheese. This dish contains a large amount of pectin - so it can be considered a healthy sweet.

To make apple cheese, Antonovka apples are most often used, but it is also possible to use apples of other varieties, but preferably with thin skin. If the fruits are not too sweet, the amount of sugar is traditionally 20% of the total mass of prepared apples.

You will need : apples - 3 kg, sugar - 600 g, cinnamon - 1 tsp, walnuts, pistachios or cashews (optional).

Pressing and maturing

Next, the apple-nut mass needs to be thoroughly compressed. To do this, place a flat plate on top of the cheese and place a press (a plastic water bottle or eggplant - 2-3 liters - works well). Leave in this position for 1 day at normal temperature, without heating or cooling the product. When a little liquid comes out of the cooking apple cheese, soak it with a napkin or toilet paper.

In due time, remove the gauze and free the head from it. It should hold its shape well. If this does not happen and the apple mixture sticks to the cheesecloth, then you have not reduced the apple puree sufficiently. In this case, it is necessary to leave our workpiece under pressure for another day inside the refrigerator (place a couple of paper napkins under the head: they will absorb excess liquid).

Next, the apple viand from Lithuania must be allowed to dry and brew sufficiently, that is, to ripen. It is best to use a wire rack for these purposes so that the head of apple cheese on each side can “breathe.” We cover it with a piece of gauze or canvas to prevent dust and small particles that always fly around the apartment. We leave the head of cheese alone (as if even “forgetting” about it) for at least 14 days – longer is better. The temperature should be room temperature. You can carry out this process in the bottom of the refrigerator, but it is still too damp there, and the cheese must dry thoroughly. But, by the way, if the jam is perfectly boiled, then nothing will happen to it: mold will not appear.

Preparation

This recipe is part of the “Cooking Together - Culinary Week” campaign. Discussion of cooking on the forum - https://forum.povarenok.ru/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=6661Apple cheese

Readiness

Fragrant Lithuanian apple cheese with nuts and cinnamon is considered ready when the surface springs when pressed (for example, with a finger) on the head. And Lithuanian home cooks “feel in their gut” when the sweet is ready - by its appearance. This is another little secret: the crust of the cheese should become dry, but inside it is dense and cuts perfectly without sticking to the knife. Traditionally, apple cheese for the winter must be prepared in advance and served at Christmas or other holidays. This is a great treat for family and friends, and it tastes amazing!

In a slow cooker

Making apple cheese in a slow cooker is very easy. Because a modern housewife will probably have a similar, very convenient and life-simplifying device in her kitchen. To prepare jam from apples (as a raw material for cheese), we take sour apples and sugar according to our personal understanding and taste (usually in a ratio of 2:1).

Peel and seed the apples and remove the stems. We send the raw materials to the multicooker (baking mode 1 hour). Pass the baked apples through a large sieve or grind in a blender until pureed. Mix with sugar. At this stage, we taste the mixture several times to adjust the sweet-sour ratio. But you should remember that the more sugar you add, the denser the cheese will become later.

Return the prepared mixture to the multicooker and set it on the same mode (but for 20 minutes). We repeat this procedure several times. Several such cycles will be required, after each one we mix the apples. The mixture is considered ready when it thickens greatly.

Add nuts and cinnamon, place the resulting mixture on a board covered with gauze, and let cool for a couple of hours. By the way, if you do nothing else, you get excellent marmalade. Once cooled, it will harden, and you can cut it, serving it, for example, with tea. But if you want to get exactly Lithuanian apple cheese, then the process must be completed (see the basic recipe above) - that is, put under a press to remove excess liquid, and then let it ripen for some time.

Apple cheese (ripens for 1 month) - tasty and dense!

I took a large saucepan in which I cook jam and sauces. Weighed her!

Do not forget about this point, since in the future you will need to know the weight of the dishes.

Preparatory stage:

I washed the apples thoroughly. Since I use them together with the peel, I washed it with a sponge and laundry soap.

I cut the apples randomly, I mostly cut them a la slices. I removed the cores and cut out all dubious places on the peel and pulp. I weighed it minus the tare weight. I made sure that the net weight of the apples was exactly 3 kilograms.

I covered it with sugar.

I left it until the juice released. The minimum you need is for them to stand like this for 7-8 hours. I got 16 hours.

Apple cheese at home - cooking:

I put the pan on the fire, brought it to a boil and simmered, uncovered, for half an hour over low heat. Stir frequently with a spatula.

Took it off the fire. Of the total quantity, I put 400 grams of apples in a separate bowl. I will use them later so that my homemade apple cheese has a more interesting, uneven texture - interspersed with fruit pieces.

The remaining mass of approximately 3350 grams (3000+750-400) was pureed with an immersion blender. A special message for those who have a blender with a plastic “leg” - in this case, you need to wait until the mixture cools down to room temperature and only then handle the device. If you have a metal one, like mine, then this can be done immediately, while hot. If you don't have a "leg", use a chopper or food processor. Of course, in this case it is less convenient, since you will have to transfer it back and forth. It's easier with submersible.

I returned it to the gas and cooked... attention - on low heat, stirring constantly!

When I was just thinking about how to make apple cheese, I planned to go over and stir it periodically, while doing something else at the same time. But it was not there! The mass begins to shoot if you are distracted from it for even a minute. Therefore, be prepared for really constant (!) stirring. Yes, initially it doesn’t look very tempting, but believe me, the result is worth it! I found such a way out for myself - I turned on a film on my tablet that I had long wanted to watch, but still never got around to... So I finally watched it, working with a spoon all this time!))

So, I boiled this mass (3350 g) to two kilograms! That's why I told you that you need to weigh the pan empty first. It took me 3 hours. You may get a different time, plus or minus, but certainly not less than two hours. During this time, the puree decreased in volume, thickened and acquired a darker, caramel color.

Addition of other ingredients:

As I wrote above, my apple cheese with walnuts. I decided to cut the nuts lengthwise into several pieces. If you have almonds and they are not very large, you can use them whole. I roasted the nuts in a dry frying pan for about 7 minutes, stirring frequently. If desired, you can do this in the oven on a baking sheet for 15-20 minutes at a temperature of 80-100 degrees.

To the boiled puree I added the apples that had been set aside 3 hours ago, ground cinnamon and roasted nuts. As I already wrote, I added cinnamon only for flavor - 0.5 tsp. If you want a lasting taste, add 2 tsp.

Mix thoroughly until all ingredients are evenly distributed.

How to make apple cheese - shaping and maturing:

I decided to divide the resulting mass into 2 parts, that is, make 2 heads. You can create one - as you like. I took 2 bowls and lined them with clean, damp gauze, folded in several layers. I put about half of the finished mass into each.

I tightened the gauze and placed weights on top. I have weights, but it could be any heavier object, including something from a dish or a jar with some kind of preparation - with apple and plum puree, for example)) I left it under pressure for a day. During this time, excess moisture will come out. I got quite a bit of it, a day later there were droplets of syrup on gauze.

Then I hung my fruit cheese, still in gauze, on the balcony. The top was secured well - with knots of gauze and, just in case, clothespins. Under each “bag” I placed a saucer for the first hours. A few drops are still glass. Then I removed the saucers and left the cheese to ripen... Apple cheese at home can be considered ready after 1 month. Don't worry about the temperature - any temperature is good! When it’s hot and dry, it will simply dry out and thicken faster than when it’s humid and colder. If you don’t have the opportunity to hang it on a balcony or loggia, then leave it in the room or kitchen. Place it on a board and cover with gauze. But! With this ripening method, it is necessary to turn the cheese every day. Don't forget about it!

Storage:

After a month, you can remove the “bundle” from the balcony and leave it at room temperature or transfer it to the refrigerator, wrapped in parchment. I cooked exactly a year ago. I removed the first head and tried it a month later - at the end of September. And the second one hung on my balcony until February!) The consistency became denser and the taste richer! In this case, cutting it into slices is even easier. In theory, the shelf life is 2 years. But in practice I couldn’t endure so much))

You can cut it for serving in any way you like - even into cubes, even into cubes, even into thin slices as in the photo. In this case, its texture and wonderful translucent amber color are visible in the light! And the taste - mmm!.. I really like it! This is something between marshmallow and marmalade... It’s hard to say more precisely - you have to try it!

Now you know, dear readers, how to make apple cheese - tasty, aromatic, dense! Save the recipe to your browser bookmarks, to your social network wall, or to your smartphone screen so you don’t lose it and use it at a convenient time. Cook for your loved ones with love!

Let's cook simply!

Grate the cheese and mix it with flour. Add salt. Chop the butter finely, add it to the mixture and knead the dough, gradually adding water. Form a ball. Place in the refrigerator for about an hour. Peel the apples and cut them into small slices. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Mix sugar + starch, carefully add to the apple mixture. Take out the dough and cut it in half. Roll out one part and place it in the mold so that the edges hang down. Spread the apple filling. Roll out the remaining half of the dough into a layer and place it on top of the filling, pinching the edges together with the bottom. We make cross-shaped cuts for air flow. Grease the pie with milk or sour cream. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes at 220 degrees, then reduce to 180 and bake for another 30-40 minutes.