Tufahije 🍎 Bosnian Walnut-Stuffed Apples 🇧🇦

Description

Classic Balkan dessert—poached apples filled with buttery walnuts and bathed in citrusy syrup. Elegant, light, and fragrant. 🍏✨

Hook: Crowd-pleasing, make-ahead dessert with simple pantry ingredients. ⚡

Ingredients

• For the syrup
• 💧 Water: 500 ml (2 cups / 17 fl oz)
• 🍚 Granulated sugar: 200 g (1 cup / 7 oz)
• 🍋 Lemon juice: 15 ml (1 tbsp / 0.5 fl oz)
• 🌿 Lemon peel strips: 3–4 (to taste)
• ⭐ Whole cloves (optional): 2
• For the apples
• 🍎 Firm apples (Granny Smith or similar), peeled & cored from the top: 6 medium (≈900 g / 2 lb)
• 🍋 Lemon juice for anti-browning (bowl of cold water + 1 tbsp): 15 ml (1 tbsp / 0.5 fl oz)
• Walnut filling
• 🌰 Walnuts, finely ground: 150 g (1½ cups / 5.3 oz)
• 🧈 Unsalted butter, melted: 30 g (2 tbsp / 1 oz)
• 🍚 Sugar: 40 g (3 tbsp / 1.4 oz)
• 🧂 Pinch of salt: 1 g (⅙ tsp / 0.04 oz)
• 🌿 Vanilla extract: 5 ml (1 tsp / 0.17 fl oz)
• 🥄 Ground cinnamon: 1 g (½ tsp / 0.04 oz)
• 🍋 Finely grated lemon zest: 1 tsp (2 g / 0.07 oz)
• 🥛 Milk (as needed to bind): 15–30 ml (1–2 tbsp / 0.5–1 fl oz)
• To serve (optional)
• 🍶 Lightly sweetened whipped cream: 120 ml (½ cup / 4 fl oz)
• 🌰 Extra chopped walnuts: 1 tbsp (8 g / 0.3 oz)

Preparation

1. 1️⃣ Make syrup: In a wide pot, simmer water, sugar, lemon juice, lemon peel, and cloves for 5 min.
2. 2️⃣ Prep apples: Peel and core from the stem end, keeping bottoms intact. Hold in lemon water.
3. 3️⃣ Poach: Transfer apples to the simmering syrup; cook 8–10 min until just tender but not collapsing. Lift out; keep syrup warm.
4. 4️⃣ Filling: Stir walnuts, melted butter, sugar, salt, vanilla, cinnamon, and lemon zest. Add milk 1 tbsp at a time to make a moist, packable mixture.
5. 5️⃣ Fill: Pack walnut filling into the warm apples, slightly mounded. Return apples to the pot; spoon syrup over. Simmer 3–4 min to set.
6. 6️⃣ Chill or serve: Cool to room temp; optionally chill 30–60 min. Serve apples with a ladle of syrup, a dollop of whipped cream, and walnuts.

Total Time

🕒 Prep: 20 min
🔥 Cook: 25 min
⏳ Total: 45 min

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