Apple cheese: recipe, cooking features

In its composition, apple cheese is the most highly salted, and after compressed and dried jam from fruits. But according to their taste and consistency, this Baltic dessert is a unique dish that does not resemble any other. Today we will offer you this rather simple but wonderful recipe. Let's build such a traditionally Lithuanian meal, which is cooked, as a rule, in advance, but cut and eaten at Christmas - apple cheese. It is difficult to say what this fragrant sweetness will look like? Maybe on a tight marmalade of apples, equipped with nuts and cinnamon: it's so special and tasty!

How to make apple cheese at home

Generally in Lithuania, the dish is prepared from Antonovka, since it contains a huge amount of pectin. However, according to experience, you just need to take apples sour-sweet or sour-grade - any. The very preparation of such a dish as apple cheese can look like the grinding of fruits with the participation of sugar, followed by a prolonged boiling of the resulting puree. When the thick mass decreases significantly and thickens heavily, we introduce nuts and an aromatic component - cinnamon. Then jam in this form is pressed and dried for at least 2 weeks (which is difficult to endure without trying the yummy). But when the Lithuanian dessert - apple cheese - ripens completely, it becomes dense and full of flavor, aroma, with an original aftertaste. Its worth at least once to try to cook - with the help of its smell and taste, fantasy moves you to a Christmas European fairy tale. And we, although not Lithuanians, but also like to eat deliciously!

Ingredients

The process of cooking apple cheese is quite long, but not at all complicated: any, even the beginner, hostess of the kitchen will cope. For this we need apples. Traditionally, apple cheese in Lithuania, as already mentioned, is brewed from Antonovka.

Ingredients are simple, like 3 kopecks: two kilo apples, a pound of sugar, a refined walnut press, as many almonds and a small pinch of cinnamon. That's all to make a real Lithuanian apple cheese. And now - in more detail, step by step!

Apple cheese. The recipe is basic

1. Fresh apples are mine, remove the seeds and stalk. Peel is not removed. We cut the fruit in small slices and put it in a thick-walled container (cauldron, pot, crock). 2 kg of apples - in a purified form.
2. We introduce sugar, its amount can be adjusted to taste. But even for sweet tooth: 500 grams is more than enough.
3. Stir and leave a lot of hours for 8 (at night) in the cool (for example, you can take out on the balcony), the fruits start up the juices, and the sugar dissolves. Fruit slices drop and decrease in volume.
4. We put the container on a slow fire, extinguish for about 25 minutes after it boils, covering it with a lid. Apple pieces should become soft. You can disrupt content several times in a neat way.
5. Now put a little pieces in another dish - 15 pieces. Then add them to the ready apple jam.

Puree

The remaining apples must be completely softened. Let them cool down and grind the mass with a submersible blender directly into the container to a smooth smoothie. You can, of course, and through the meat grinder skip, if such a blender is not at hand. Again put the mass on a small fire, cook for a long time, stirring the hour from the hour. In this case, the lid should be covered halfway, as the jam is heavily sprinkled, sometimes - up to the ceiling. We dig out not less than 2 hours, so that the mass evaporates strongly and thickens sufficiently.

Nuts

Next, apple cheese in Lithuanian is prepared as follows. We are engaged in nuts - they are cleaned and roasted (can be dried). Good for these purposes microwave at high power (literally 2-3 minutes). In doing this, 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 frying pan or in an oven. Fried (dried) nuts give a little cool, and then chop with a knife rather large chunks (not crumbs).

Final procedures

How to cook Lithuanian apple cheese at home? The recipe requires continuation. When the mass of jam becomes very thick, moving away from the walls of the container, you must constantly stir it, so as not to burn.

1. We add nuts and those apple slices to the container, which we left before the beginning of boiling. Remove the saucepan from the plate and gently mix the resulting composition, so that apples and nuts are placed evenly on the apple mass.
2. Now take a deep bowl, as well as a cut of gauze, which is stacked in several layers. Gauze wet in cool water and squeeze well - she needs to be moist, however, not too wet. Put the marlech in a bowl, lay out on it a fried mixture. We level with a wooden spatula. And in this state, we let the semi-finished product cool down completely.
3. And after that, gently fold the gauze, so that it keeps the apple mass. We put everything on a plate or in a large shallow dish.

Pressing and maturing

Next, the apple-nut mass should be well compressed. To do this, we put a flat plate on top of the cheese and put the press (a plastic bottle with water or an eggplant - 2-3 liters) is suitable. We leave in this position for 1 day at normal temperature, without heating or cooling the product. When a little bit of the liquid comes out of the apple apple, moisten it with a napkin or toilet paper.

In due time we remove gauze, we release the head from it. She must keep her form well. If this does not happen and the apple mixture sticks to the gauze, then you have insufficiently boiled the puree from apples. In this case, it is necessary to leave our blank under the press for one more day inside the refrigerator (place a couple of paper napkins under the head: they will absorb excess liquid).

Next apple apple from Lithuania should be sufficiently allowed to dry and brew, that is - ripen. It is best to use grating for this purpose, so that the head of cheese from apples from each side could "breathe". 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 in peace (as if even "forgetting" about it) at least 14 days - better longer. The temperature should be room. You can make this process in the bottom of the refrigerator, but there is still too damp, and the cheese should dry properly. But, by the way, if the jam is perfectly digested, then nothing will happen to it: mold will not appear.

Readiness

A fragrant Lithuanian apple cheese with nuts and cinnamon is considered ready when, when pressed (for example, a finger) on the head, the surface springs. And Lithuanian home cooks "feel in awe" when sweetness is ready - in its appearance. Such another little secret: the crust of cheese should become dryish, but inside it is dense and perfectly cut, not 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 home and friends, and it's amazingly delicious!

In the multivariate

Apple cheese in a multivar cook is very simple. Since the modern housewife in the kitchen probably has a similar, very convenient and simplifying life, the 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 the ratio 2: 1).

We peel apples from the skin and seeds, remove the stems. Raw materials are sent to the multivark (baking mode 1 hour). We pass the baked apples through a large sieve or with a meringue blender to the state of mashed potatoes. Mix with sugar. At this stage, we try the mass several times to adjust the ratio of sweet and sour. But it should be remembered that the more sugar is put, the more dense the cheese will become afterwards.

We return the prepared mixture to the multivark and put it in the same mode (but for 20 minutes). We repeat this procedure several times. Such cycles will take several, after each - stir apples. The mixture is considered ready when it thickens.

Add nuts and cinnamon, spread the resulting mass on a board covered with gauze, let it cool for a couple of hours. By the way, if you do not do anything else, you get an excellent marmalade. After cooling, it will harden, and you can cut it, serving, for example, for tea. But if you want to get the apple Lithuanian cheese, then the process must be completed (see the basic recipe above) - that is, put under the press to remove excess liquid, and then allow it to mature for a while.

Pie

With the participation of Lithuanian cheese (which, usually served to the table, as a separate treat), you can prepare a delicious dish: apple pie with cheese. To do this, we need: half a kilogram of flour, salt on the tip of the knife, a good piece (gram 200) of apple cheese, a packet of butter, three large apples, sugar for personal taste, a pinch of starch, some milk, juice of half a lemon.

Cooking is easy!

We rub the cheese and mix it with flour. Add salt. Cut the oil finely, add to the mass and knead the dough, gradually adding water. Form the ball. We put it in the refrigerator for about an hour. Apples are cleaned and cut into small slices. Sprinkle juice from the lemon. Mix the sugar + starch, gently put into the mass to the apples. We take the dough and cut it in half. One part is rolled out and placed in a mold so that the edges are knotted. We spread the apple stuffing. And the rest of the dough is rolled into a layer and put it on top of the filling, tearing the edges with the bottom. We make notches crosswise for airflow. Lubricate the pie with milk or sour cream. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes at 220 degrees, then reduce it to 180 degrees and bake another 30-40 minutes.