Homemade Apple Cheese (Lithuanian Christmas Treat)

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   Gather your ingredients. You can use less sugar depending on how tart your apples are. Mine are an Antonovka-type tart apple, so I use the full amount.

2. Step 2:

   

   Wash and towel-dry the apples and cut them into wedges. There's no need to peel them. I quarter them, core them, then cut them into wedges. The exact size doesn't matter—they'll be cooked and puréed.

3. Step 3:

   

   Toss the sliced apples with two or three tablespoons of sugar and leave them for 8 hours. They'll release some juice—not much, but enough.

4. Step 4:

   

   Set the pot of apples over the heat to cook them until soft. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

5. Step 5:

   

   The apples will be completely soft, like a purée. Let them cool.

6. Step 6:

   

   Purée the apples with a blender. You could push them through a sieve instead, but it's slow and the skins get in the way. You can set aside a couple of spoonfuls of whole apple to fold into the finished cheese later, though mine cooked down too much, so I skipped it.

7. Step 7:

   

   Stir the remaining sugar into the purée.

8. Step 8:

   

   Set the pot of purée over low heat and start cooking, stirring from time to time.

9. Step 9:

   

   The goal is to reduce the purée by half. It bubbles and spatters as it cooks, so be careful—use a pot with high sides.

10. Step 10:

    

    Gradually the purée will thicken, darken, and turn sticky. It took me about 40 minutes. Stir in the chopped walnuts and cinnamon. If you set aside any whole apple pieces, add them now.

11. Step 11:

    

    Return the purée to the heat and keep cooking, this time stirring constantly—it's thick now and can scorch. Cook another 20 minutes, until it reduces further and darkens. Turn off the heat and let it cool.

12. Step 12:

    

    Line your mold with cheesecloth folded three or four times over; dampen it first and wring it out well.

13. Step 13:

    

    Pack in the apple mass. Don't let it cool too much first—mine set up and crumbled. Press it down firmly.

14. Step 14:

    

    Fold the ends of the cheesecloth over the top, turn the mass out onto a board, and weigh it down. Leave it like this for a day.

15. Step 15:

    

    The next day, unwrap the Christmas cheese and set it on parchment to dry. Apple cheese dries for a long time—about 2 months—turning it over now and then.