Candied apples: recipes for cooking at home for the winter step by step with photos and videos

The best and he althiest way to prolong the summer and feel a part of it on a cloudy autumn or a frosty morning is to enjoy fruit and berry delicacies prepared in advance in the summer. Candied apples can be a great solution to this problem. How to cook a treat quickly, simply and tasty?

Features of cooking candied apples for the winter

They are in the origin story. Since this culinary delicacy was created in hot countries where there are no hard frosts that can keep fruit fresh at least until the middle of winter, the cooking features are associated with the traditions of these countries.

• Firstly, do not spare sugar on candied fruits. This is not a diet food, although it contains a lot of vitamins.
• Second, choose a quality source product. The following are selection guidelines to help resolve this issue.

Finally, try different recipes and choose yours, which will seem the most delicious, bright.

Selection and preparation of apples

Among the huge number of varieties of apples, it is desirable to choose fruits with dense pulp. This is due to the fact that too juicy fruits contain a large amount of liquid, which will take a lot of time to evaporate / dry / remove.

This will allow the hostess to save time and prepare more candied fruits in the same period.

The main question that worries most housewives is which apples to prefer - from a home garden or purchased from a store? Here follows a clear choice in favor of your own product. Fruits that are grown in the region of their consumption, as a rule, have excellent taste characteristics. Their aroma is much stronger than imported fruits. Finally, you can always buy apples in the store, even in winter, and therefore there is no exclusivity in them.

You also need to choose fruits without visible external damage. It is better not to use rumpled, dark, punched, pecked fruits for these purposes.

As for maturity, it is advisable to choose slightly unripe fruits. They have more pectin, and they taste better, with a slight sourness. Paired with sugar, it tastes amazing.

Recipes for candied apples at home

So, apples should be thoroughly washed. It is advisable to use a soft brush for this. With its help, even an invisible film of dust on the peel is wiped off. This is especially true if purchased fruits are still taken for candied fruit. They need to be washed more thoroughly, and not just under running water, but with soap. The fact is that you need to get rid of the thinnest film of wax applied by the manufacturer to improve the preservative properties and long-distance transportation.

After washing, dry the fruit thoroughly with a paper towel. Now the core is removed from the apples. The easiest way to work with a special knife. It will allow you to make a neat cut, as a result of which the candied fruit slices will be even and straight. It remains to cut the apples into slices. The peel can be left or peeled - it's a matter of taste.

To make candied fruits beautiful, unusual in shape, it is better to cut them into figures.For example, it is very easy to pre-cut an apple so that parts of the side segments are removed. When cutting such an apple, an asterisk will turn out. Another non-standard shape is the square, which is much easier to make.

Required to prepare composition:

• 700ml water;
• 400g sugar;
• ¼ tsp citric acid (or 2 tablespoons lemon juice).

This amount is for 600g of apples. Water is poured into the container, sugar and citric acid are added and put on fire. After boiling, you need to boil the syrup for about 5 more minutes. Now you should reduce the power of the fire to a minimum and fill in the apple slices. Cook them over low heat for 5 minutes. Now the mass must be removed from the fire and cooled for about 3 hours. This procedure (cooking and cooling) must be done 3-4 more times. This will make the apple slices transparent and elastic at the same time.

At the end of the last stage of hardening, put the fruit in a colander and let the syrup drain. It remains only to dry the candied apple slices. This can be done at home, it will take several days to dry like this.

Quick Recipe

Candied fruits can be prepared with less time. A quick recipe suggests a smaller form of candied fruit. Ideally, apples should be cut into small cubes. The syrup here needs to be thicker:

• 1 liter of water;
• 1 glass of sugar.

For this amount take 1 kg of apples. In order for the syrup to be more fully saturated with apple flavor, you must first boil apple skins in it and boil on low heat for just a couple of minutes. Now the liquid is filtered, and chopped fruit slices are poured into it.It takes 5 minutes to cook this mass.

After that, the mass is removed from the fire and allowed to cool. It takes 5 hours. After that, the candied fruits are thrown back on a sieve, allowing the syrup to drain. Now they need to dry. To do this, the candied pieces are laid out on parchment and placed in the oven, the door of which must be slightly opened to allow the moisture to evaporate. Each entry (a layer of candied fruits) must be dried at a temperature of 50 degrees for an hour.

No cooking

Housewives and gardeners are always trying to reduce the time spent on cooking their favorite dishes. The previous quick recipe allows this. But many are looking for a recipe without boiling apples. So this cannot be, because it will no longer be candied fruits. Candied fruits are only juicy fruits boiled in sugar syrup.

In the dryer

For this recipe you will need:

• 100ml water;
• 500-600g apples;
• 300 ml honey.

Also for the recipe you need an electric dryer. Each peeled apple should be cut into 6-8 pieces. To prepare the syrup, water is heated to 40 degrees, and then honey is dissolved in it. A small amount of it should be left, it will still come in handy.

Apples are placed in an enamel pan, poured with syrup and mixed thoroughly so that the composition completely covers the fruit slices. This mass must be put in a warm place for 12 hours, so that the pieces of fruit are infused and saturated with juice.

After 12 hours, the slices are removed with a slotted spoon and placed in the dryer. Juice from the upper tiers should not wet the slices tiers below. The remaining honey must be dropped into the middle of each slice. Dry them for 12-16 hours at a temperature of 40 degrees.

From paradise apples

These fruits are so small that there is no need to additionally divide and cut them, they are used whole. The recipe is this. Fruits are washed. After that, it is necessary to often prick each apple with a needle over the entire area. This will help the syrup soak them better in the future. Now each fruit must be blanched, that is, dipped in hot water for a few seconds.

The syrup is prepared from the following ingredients:

• 1 kg of sugar;
• 250 ml of water.

This amount is for 1 kg of apples. Boiled in syrup for 10 minutes over low heat, and then removed from the stove, covered with a towel and left to infuse and cool for 6-8 hours. After that, the procedure is repeated one or two more times.You can add a couple of lemon wedges to the syrup to enhance the sour apple flavor.

It remains only to dry this delicacy. The easiest way to do this is in the oven.

In the oven

The cooking recipe is almost the same. Only the method of drying the fruit slices changes. They need to be dried for 15-20 minutes at a temperature of 150 degrees. Keep the oven door ajar to make the candied fruits firmer, not damp.

With cinnamon

Spiced candied fruits are a real bliss for the olfactory and taste buds. Cinnamon is especially good with an apple, because this spice is traditionally added to many dishes and pastries (strudel, charlotte).

You can use the classic recipe. In addition to it you will need:

• cinnamon - 1 tsp;
• sugar - 300 g;
• citric acid - 1 tsp

These ingredients must be mixed. Sprinkle the mixture over candied apples on a baking sheet before toasting.

With cherries

Cherry adds bitterness to candied fruits, so it is advisable to add a tablespoon of maple syrup to the classic recipe. The cherries are preliminarily washed carefully and the bones are removed from it. When cooking cherries, it is advisable to fall asleep last, literally for 2 minutes. Otherwise, the classic recipe for candied apples does not change.

In orange syrup

Apples with orange - a win-win combination that is very refreshing and invigorating. In fact, the recipe is no different from the usual one, except that you need to take orange juice instead of water.It is advisable to squeeze it yourself, and not use a store-bought one. Add some fresh orange peel to enhance the flavor of the orange.

How to store candied fruit

The best storage place is a glass jar, but if you don't have it, you can also use tin utensils. The main thing is that it is as tightly closed as possible. Sweets that will be stored for a long time should not be exposed to sunlight. If you put parchment paper in the layers of candied apples, the storage will be better.

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