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This apple cheese is incredibly delicious and has a unique taste. It is fruity, spicy, and very aromatic. Walnuts add a slightly crunchy note. With just a few ingredients, but with a certain amount of time, you can make the traditional Lithuanian Christmas dessert at home. You can find a detailed recipe with the exact quantities and step-by-step instructions below.
What is apple cheese?
Apple cheese is a Lithuanian dessert made from apples boiled down with sugar and sometimes nuts and spices. It is shaped, pressed, and matured like cheese. This is where the name comes from.
In Lithuania, apple cheese is traditionally served at Christmas. It is prepared in late summer or fall during apple season and left to mature until Advent.
Which apples are best for this Lithuanian dessert?
In Lithuania, apple cheese is mainly made from Antonovka apples, just like the apple pastila in Russia. However, you can also make this Christmas dessert with other varieties.
Sour, green, or unripe apples are best suited for this, as they are for the Belyov pastila. They are particularly rich in pectin, which gives the candy a firm consistency and a tart flavor. The recipe is ideal for using windfall fruit.
Divide or reduce the cooking time
You don’t necessarily have to cook the apple puree in one day. You can spread it over several days. Cook it every day for as long as you have time or while you are doing something else in the kitchen. Then turn off the stove and leave the apple puree to rest at room temperature until the next day.
To shorten the cooking time, use a pot that is as wide as possible. Once the apple puree had reduced in volume, I transferred it to a wide, deep non-stick frying pan and continued cooking it there to speed up the process.
You can also reduce the quantities of ingredients in the recipe. The less apple mixture you have, the faster it will cook down.
Refining apple cheese
The apple mixture can be seasoned with various sweet spices. I used cinnamon powder, ground cloves, and grated nutmeg. Ginger powder also goes well with it.
I also refined the apple cheese with coarsely chopped walnuts, similar to my apple caramel dessert. They add a crunchy note and a slightly nutty flavor.
Other nuts or almonds are also suitable for this, just like for the fall fruit salad. You can also prepare the apple cheese with candied or dried fruits of your choice.
How to serve and store
Apple cheese can be stored for several months, similar to the fruit leather. The longer it has to mature, the tastier it will be in the end.
Store it wrapped in baking paper in the refrigerator. To prevent mold from forming, wipe it down with a clean, dry tea towel from all sides every now and then.
This apple dessert is
- fruity,
- spicy,
- slightly nutty,
- sweet sour,
- unique in taste,
- firm enough to cut,
- firm to the bite,
- incredibly delicious,
- aromatic,
- vegan,
- with a few ingredients but with a long time to make,
- perfect for snacking and gifting, alongside the batonchiki, the chocolate bark, and the candied almonds,
- an old Christmas classic in Lithuanian cuisine.
How to make apple cheese: tips and tricks
- Sour, green, or unripe apples are best suited for this recipe. You can use windfall apples in particular.
- Normally, you use 15% – 25% sugar per 100% cored apples. This means you need 150 g – 250 g sugar per 1 kg of prepared apple pieces. In my recipe, I use 15% sugar.
- To shorten the cooking time, you can reduce the quantities of ingredients in the recipe. The fewer apples you use, the faster the apple mixture will cook down.
- You can simply omit the walnuts or use other nuts instead. You can also refine the apple cheese with candied lemon and orange peel or any candied and dried fruits you like.
- Season the apple mixture with sweet spices of your choice.
- The specified drying time for the apple cheese may vary greatly depending on your circumstances. Among other things, it depends on how well you have cooked down the apple mixture and how high the humidity is in the room where it is drying.
- The recipe makes two large pieces of apple cheese, each weighing approx. 750 g – 800 g. For one piece, you will need to halve the quantities of ingredients.
- The homemade apple cheese will keep for several months. Store it wrapped in baking paper in the refrigerator and wipe it occasionally with a clean, dry tea towel to prevent mold from forming.
Video recipe for apple cheese
By the way, you can find a short video for the apple cheese on my Youtube channel. There you can see exactly how to make it yourself. If you don’t want to miss any more videos from me, feel free to subscribe to my channel.
Did you make apple cheese yourself using this recipe? I look forward to seeing your results, your star rating, and your comments below about how it turned out and how it tasted.
Try these sweet apple recipes too:
- Invisible apple cake – recipe for French classic
- Apple jam recipe – how to make without gelling agent
- Apple chips recipe: crispy dried apple rings
Apple cheese
Ingredients
- 4 kg cored apples (approx. 5 kg apples with cores)
- 600 g sugar (15% of the weight of the apples)
- 80 g walnut kernels roasted and roughly chopped
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/3 tsp ground cloves
- 1/5 tsp grated nutmeg
Instructions
- Core apples, cut them into cubes and weigh 4 kg of them.
- Place the apple pieces in layers in a very large saucepan with a thick base and sprinkle each layer with a little sugar (with a total of approx. 200 g sugar – 1/3 of the total amount).
- Press the apple pieces down a little in the saucepan, put a lid on them and leave them at room temperature for approx. 24 hours.
- Pour approx. 400 g of apple pieces (10% of the total amount) into a clean container with a lid, close it and put it in the fridge for the time being.
- Place the saucepan with the remaining apple pieces on the stove and simmer for approx. 30 - 50 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are very soft.
- Puree the apple pieces with a hand blender to a homogeneous mass, add the remaining 400 g sugar and stir.
- Put the saucepan back on the stove and cook the apple puree over a very low heat, stirring regularly, until it becomes a dark, thick apple mixture that is difficult to stir. This can take up to 8 - 9 hours. As soon as the apple puree has reduced in volume, I transferred it to a wide, deep, non-stick frying pan to speed up the cooking process. Stir the apple puree frequently at the end of the cooking time to prevent it from burning.
- You can spread the cooking of the apple puree over several days. Cook it for a few hours every day if you have time, then turn off the stove and leave the apple puree at room temperature. Continue cooking the next day.
- Now add the 400 g of chilled apple pieces, coarsely chopped walnuts, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to the boiled down apple puree and continue to heat over a low heat for approx. 30 - 50 minutes, stirring constantly, until the added apple pieces soften slightly.
- Hang two sieves over two bowls and line each with a damp, clean cheese cloth or tea towel.
- Pour half of the hot apple mixture into the first sieve and the second half into the second sieve and cover each with the ends of the cloths.
- Take the first apple mixture wrapped in the cheese cloth out of the sieve, place it on a chopping board, flatten it slightly and roughly shape it into a circle. Place another chopping board on top of the apple mixture and place a weight, such as a bowl of water, on top. Repeat the same with the second apple mixture. Leave the two apple mixtures to rest under the weight at room temperature for approx. 24 hours.
- Now remove the two pieces of apple cheese from the cheese cloths, place them each on a clean sheet of baking paper, cover them loosely with another sheet of baking paper and leave them to dry at room temperature for approx. 2 - 3 weeks, turning them once a day. The apple cheese is ready as soon as it has become quite firm all over the surface. You can check this by pressing on it with your finger.
- Wrap the apple cheese in baking paper and leave it to mature in the fridge for approx. 1 - 2 months, wiping it from time to time on all sides with a clean, dry tea towel to prevent mold from forming.
Notes
- Sour, green, or unripe apples are best suited for this recipe. You can use windfall apples in particular.
- Normally, you use 15% - 25% sugar per 100% cored apples. This means you need 150 g - 250 g sugar per 1 kg of prepared apple pieces. In my recipe, I use 15% sugar.
- To shorten the cooking time, you can reduce the quantities of ingredients in the recipe. The fewer apples you use, the faster the apple mixture will cook down.
- You can simply omit the walnuts or use other nuts instead. You can also refine the apple cheese with candied lemon and orange peel or any candied and dried fruits you like.
- Season the apple mixture with sweet spices of your choice.
- The specified drying time for the apple cheese may vary greatly depending on your circumstances. Among other things, it depends on how well you have cooked down the apple mixture and how high the humidity is in the room where it is drying.
- The recipe makes two large pieces of apple cheese, each weighing approx. 750 g - 800 g. For one piece, you will need to halve the quantities of ingredients.
- The homemade apple cheese will keep for several months. Store it wrapped in baking paper in the refrigerator and wipe it occasionally with a clean, dry tea towel to prevent mold from forming.
- See the detailed tips and tricks for making the apple cheese at the top of the article.
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