5 recipes for the ‘Apple Feast of the Saviour’ holiday (PHOTOS)
‘Apple Feast of the Saviour’ or ‘Apple Spas’ (‘Яблочный Спас’), which is celebrated annually in mid-August, was considered one of the first harvest holidays after which nature began to gradually prepare for fall. And some of the main dishes on the table were, of course, made from apples. We’ve highlighted five interesting ones below!
1. Apple gingerbread (‘kovrizhka’)
Such a pie could be served both on fasting days and on regular days. To prepare it, you’ll need some apples, walnuts and raisins.
INGREDIENTS FOR 4 PERSONS:
2 apples
4 cups of flour
2 cups of sugar
1 cup of raisins
1 cup of walnuts
1 cup of sunflower or olive oil
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of vanilla sugar
Add salt, cinnamon to taste
PREPARATION:
Cut the apples into large pieces, boil them in water, wait until they cool and strain them. Then, heat the oil in a saucepan, add salt, sugar, then chopped raisins and walnuts and then apple broth. Then, mix in flour, salt, vanilla sugar and cinnamon. Put the finished dough in a mold and bake for 45 minutes at 180 degrees.
2. Whole apple pie with apple filling
This old recipe is mentioned in her cookbook by the famous Elena Molokhovets.
INGREDIENTS FOR 4 PERSONS
1.5kg (about 15 pieces) of apples
1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of almonds
1/2 cup of raisins
3 egg whites
PREPARATION:
Peel 10 of the 15 apples and cut out their cores, bring them to a boil in a pan with water and, after cooling, place them in a deep dish. Stuff each with a mixture of finely chopped almonds and raisins and add sugar. Then, make a filling mass from the remaining 5 apples – to do this, you must first bake them, then rub them through a sieve, add half a cup of sugar and egg whites, then whip until the sugar dissolves and a fluffy mass forms. Pour it over the stuffed apples and bake them for 15 minutes at 180 degrees.
3. Apple ‘pastila’
Sweet and sour apples, such as ‘Antonovka’, are ideal for this dish. It is from this type that the famous Kolomna ‘pastila’ is made.
INGREDIENTS FOR 4 PERSONS:
1kg of apples
4 egg whites
1 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon of powdered sugar
PREPARATION:
Bake the apples in an oven at 180 degrees until they become soft. Then rub them through a sieve or whip them with a blender, gradually adding sugar. Wait until the resulting snow-white mass cools. Then whip the cooled egg whites with vanilla powder and add to the baked apple puree and whip again until you get a fluffy mass. Then, pour it into a mold and put it in the oven at a temperature of 80-120 degrees. Cooking will take from two to six hours, depending on the temperature. After the mass changes its color to a creamy brown, you will need to take it out of the oven and let it cool.
Serve the ‘pastila’ in small slices. It’s a great accompaniment with tea.
4. Baked apples
INGREDIENTS FOR 4 PERSONS:
4 apples
2 tablespoons of sugar
You can add honey instead of sugar, as well as chopped walnuts and cinnamon
PREPARATION:
Cut out the apple cores and place the apples on a baking tray. Add sugar (or honey and nuts) to the center of each apple. Bake them for 15-20 minutes at 200 degrees. Then, add sugar again and bake in the oven for another 20-30 minutes.
5. Apple pancakes
INGREDIENTS FOR 4 PERSONS:
1-2 apples
200ml of milk
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
3 tablespoons of sugar
1 egg
125g of flour
1g of baking powder
Cinnamon to taste
PREPARATION:
Grate or finely chop the apples after peeling them, then add milk, sugar, egg, cinnamon and, stirring, add flour. Then, put the resulting dough in small portions on a preheated frying pan. Fry for three minutes on each side.
These pancakes also go well with tea, especially if accompanied by sour cream or honey.
