By its composition, apple cheese is the most boiled, and then pressed and dried jam from the fruit. But both in taste and in consistency, this Baltic dessert is a unique, unlike anything national dish. Today we will bring to your attention this rather simple, but wonderful recipe. Let's build such a traditional Lithuanian meal, which is prepared, as a rule, in advance, and sliced and eaten at Christmas - apple cheese. It’s hard to say what will this aromatic sweetness look like? Maybe on a thick apple marmalade, equipped with nuts and cinnamon: it’s such a special and delicious!
How to make apple cheese at home
Actually, in Lithuania, the dish is made from Antonovka variety, since it contains a huge amount of pectin. However, from experience, you just need to take apples of sweet and sour or sour variety - any. The very preparation of such a dish as apple cheese may look like chopping fruits with sugar, followed by prolonged boiling of the resulting mashed potatoes. When the thick mass decreases in volume significantly and strongly thickens, we introduce nuts and the aromatic component - cinnamon. Then we jam in this form, compress and dry for at least 2 weeks (which is quite difficult to withstand without tasting goodies). But when the Lithuanian dessert - apple cheese - has fully ripened, it becomes dense and full of taste, aroma, with an original aftertaste. It is worth it at least once to try to cook - with the help of its smell and taste, imagination moves you into a Christmas European fairy tale. And we, although not Lithuanians, also love to eat deliciously!
Ingredients
The process of making apple cheese is quite lengthy, but not at all complicated: any, even the novice mistress of the kitchen, can handle it. For this we need apples. Traditionally, apple cheese in Lithuania, as already mentioned, is cooked from Antonovka.
The ingredients are as simple as 3 kopecks: two kilos of apples, a pound of sugar, raisins of peeled walnuts, as much almonds and a small pinch of cinnamon. That's all to make real Lithuanian apple cheese. And now - in more detail, step by step!
Apple Cheese The recipe is basic
- Fresh apples, remove the seeds and the stalk. The peel is not removed. Cut the fruit into small slices and put in a thick-walled container (cauldron, pan, ducklings). 2 kilos of apples - in peeled form.
- We introduce granulated sugar, its amount can be adjusted to taste. But even for the sweet tooth: 500 grams is more than enough.
- Stir and leave the mass for 8 hours (overnight) in cool (for example, you can put it on the balcony), the fruits let the juices out, and the sugar dissolves. Fruit slices fall and decrease in volume.
- We put the container on a slow fire, simmer for about 25 minutes after it boils, covering it with a lid. Apple slices should become soft. You can gently stir the contents several times.
- Now we put a few slices into another dish - about 15. Then we will add them to the finished apple jam.
Mashed potatoes
The remaining apples should be completely softened. Allow them to cool and grind the mass with a blender directly in the container until a smooth smoothie is created. You can, of course, and through a meat grinder, if such a blender is not at hand. Again, put the mass on a small fire, cook for a long time, stirring hour by hour. At the same time, the lid must be half covered, as the jam splashes heavily, sometimes even to the ceiling. Boil for at least 2 hours, so that the mass evaporates strongly and thickens sufficiently.
Nuts
Next, Lithuanian apple cheese is prepared as follows. We deal with nuts - they are peeled and roasted (can be dried). A microwave for high power (literally 2-3 minutes) is good for these purposes. At the same time, open the doors several times and mix the nuts so that they do not burn. But you can do it on a stove in a skillet or in an oven. We give the roasted (dried) nuts a little cool, and then chop with a knife in fairly large pieces (not crumbs).
Final procedures
How to cook Lithuanian apple cheese at home? The recipe needs to be continued. When the mass of jam becomes very thick, moving away from the walls of the container, it is necessary to constantly stir, so as not to burn.
- Add nuts and apple slices to the bowl that we left before boiling. We remove the pan from the stove and gently mix the resulting composition so that the apples and nuts are as evenly distributed as possible over the apple mass.
- Now we take a deep bowl, as well as a piece of gauze, which we add in several layers. We wet the gauze in cool water and squeeze it well - it needs to be wet, however, not too wet. Put marlechka in a bowl, put boiled mixture on it. Level with a wooden spatula. And in this state we give the semi-finished product to cool completely.
- And after that we carefully roll up the gauze so that it holds the apple mass. We put everything on a plank or in a large shallow dish.
Pressing and ripening
Next, the apple-nut mass must be well pressed. To do this, we put a flat plate on the cheese on top and put the press (a plastic bottle with water or an eggplant for 2-3 liters is well suited). We leave in this position for 1 day at ordinary temperature, without heating or cooling the product. When a little liquid comes out of the upcoming apple cheese, soak it with a napkin or toilet paper.
In due time, remove the gauze, free the head from it. She must keep her shape well. If this does not happen and the apple mixture sticks to the gauze, then you have insufficiently boiled applesauce. In this case, it is necessary to leave our blank under the press for another day inside the refrigerator (put a couple of paper towels under the head: they will absorb excess liquid).
Further, apple apples from Lithuania must be sufficiently allowed to dry and insist, that is, to ripen. It is best to use a grill for these purposes, so that the head of cheese from apples on each side could “breathe”. We cover it with a piece of gauze or canvas from dust and small particles, always flying around the apartment. We leave the head of cheese alone (as if even “forgetting” about it) for at least 14 days - better longer. The temperature should be room temperature. This process can be carried out at the bottom of the refrigerator, but there it is still too damp, and the cheese should dry well. But, by the way, if the jam is perfectly cooked, then nothing will happen to it: mold will not appear.
Readiness
Fragrant Lithuanian apple cheese with nuts and cinnamon is considered ready when, when pressed (for example, with a finger) on the head, the surface is springy. And the Lithuanian home cooks feel “with their gut” when the sweetness is ready - by its appearance. This is another little secret: the cheese crust should become dry, and inside it is dense and cut perfectly, without sticking to the knife. By tradition, apple cheese for the winter must be prepared in advance, and served at the table for Christmas or other holidays. This is a great treat for family and friends, and it is amazingly delicious!
In a slow cooker
Cooking apple cheese in a slow cooker is very simple. Since a modern housewife in the kitchen will surely find a similar, very convenient and simplifying life, device. For the preparation of jam from apples (as raw materials for cheese) we take apples of sour varieties, sugar according to personal understanding and taste (usually, in a ratio of 2: 1).
We clear the apples from the skin and seeds, remove the stalks. We send the raw materials to the slow cooker (baking mode 1 hour). Pass the baked apples through a large sieve or a chalk blender to a puree condition. Mix with sugar. At this stage, we try a lot of times to adjust the ratio of sweet and sour. But it should be remembered that the more sugar you put, the denser the cheese will become later.
We return the prepared mixture to the slow cooker and put it on the same mode (but for 20 minutes). Repeat this procedure several times. There will be several such cycles, after each - mix the apples. The mixture is considered ready when it is very thick.
Add nuts and cinnamon, put the resulting mass on a board covered with gauze, let cool for a couple of hours. By the way, if you don’t do anything else, you’ll get excellent marmalade. Having cooled, it will harden, and you can cut it, serving, for example, for tea. But if you want to get Lithuanian apple cheese, then the process must be brought to an end (see the basic recipe above) - that is, put under the press to remove excess liquid, and then let it mature for a while.
Pie
With the participation of Lithuanian cheese (which is usually served as a separate treat), you can cook a delicious dish: apple pie with cheese. To do this, we need: a pound of flour, salt on the tip of a knife, a good piece (200 grams) of apple cheese, a pack of butter, three large apples, sugar to your personal taste, a pinch of starch, a little milk, juice of half a lemon.
Simple cooking!
Grate the cheese and mix it with flour. Add salt. Cut the butter finely, add to the mass and knead the dough, gradually adding water. We form a ball. Set aside in the refrigerator for about an hour. Peel and cut the apples into small slices. Sprinkle with lemon juice. We mix sugar + starch, carefully introduce into the mass of apples. We take out the dough and cut it in half. Roll out one part with a layer and lay in a form so that the edges hang down. We spread the apple filling. And we roll the rest of the dough into a layer and put it on top of the filling, pinching the edges with the bottom. We make cross-cuts for air flow. Grease the cake with milk or sour cream. We bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes at 220 degrees, then reduce to 180 and bake another 30-40 minutes.