Tastes better than store-bought and without sugar. Making natural apple pastille in a regular oven

My child loves sweets. Last year I tried making apple marshmallows at home. It’s a delicious thing, and so many benefits: vitamins, iron, and minerals. All beneficial substances from apples are preserved. And without sugar. A hundred times better than any store-bought sweets.

The pastila went off with a bang. The son chewed sweet records and didn’t even remember about all sorts of jelly bears and other chemicals.

I am sharing the recipe with other moms and grandmas. I hope your kids will like the treat.

Recipe No. 1 – pure apple marshmallow

It was with him that I began culinary experiments.

All you need is 1 kg of apples. Any will do: broken, wrinkled, ugly. The color is also not important - from any apples marshmallows are obtained in a natural brown shade.

Then they advise different things.

Some people prepare marshmallows from apples with skin. I didn’t like it - the delicacy turns out to be tougher, you can feel the dense inclusions.

Others bake apples in the oven and then scoop out the pulp with a spoon. But turning on the oven in the summer heat is a real nightmare, I also rejected this method.

I did it simpler:

1. I washed the apples, removed rot and wormy fragments, and removed the tails.
2. I cut the fruit into quarters.
3. Simmered in a small amount of water until soft.
4. I put it through a meat grinder and a puree attachment. I collected the pulp and threw the pulp into the trash.

If you don’t have a meat grinder with an attachment, just rub the stewed apples through a sieve.

I poured the puree into a saucepan, put it on low heat and simmered until thick for another two hours. It may take you longer or less. It all depends on the variety of apples - some are juicier, some are dry and crumbly.

The puree needs to be stirred. At first, occasionally, and as it thickens, more often. If you miss the moment and the mass still burns, it’s easy to fix.

Saving burnt mashed potatoes

Do not under any circumstances stir the already stuck mixture and do not scrape off the dark crusts from the bottom! If burnt residue gets into the pastille, the finished product will have an unpleasant burnt taste.

1. Carefully pour the puree into a clean saucepan.
2. Remove the top of the burnt mixture with a spoon. Take only beige puree. Do not touch the part that has already darkened.
3. Continue cooking the puree in a new pan.

There will definitely not be a burnt taste - tested from personal experience.

Drying the marshmallow

Boil the puree until it thickens to the maximum.

While the mixture is reaching, cover a baking sheet with high-quality parchment. Don't skimp on paper. The mass sticks tightly to poor parchment, and the pastille turns out “with pieces of paper.” Not fatal, but not pleasant.

Some people recommend lubricating the parchment with refined sunflower oil. I tried it and didn't like it. Yes, the marshmallow comes off easily. But a layer of oil still remains on the plastics; you can hear it both by taste and by touch.

When the puree is ready, cool it to a comfortable temperature.

1. Place on a baking sheet in a layer about 0.5 cm thick. No more - otherwise you will dry it for a hundred years. And the marshmallow will turn out thick, it won’t be possible to wrap it beautifully in a tube.
2. Smooth out the puree thoroughly. It is very important! If the puree lies unevenly, after a few hours the thin fragments will burn, and the thick ones will not even dry properly.
3. Set the oven temperature to 100 ^OC and turn on convection.
4. Immediately place the pan in the chamber. Don't wait for the oven to preheat.
5. Dry the marshmallow until ready. The mass should thicken, but not dry out. It took me a little over 4 hours, but it all depends on the thickness of the layer and the oven. If you have strong convection, the puree will dry faster.

The finished marshmallow is dense, but not rock-hard, and does not stick to your fingers.

What to do if there is no convection

My neighbor has a very ordinary oven with no bells and whistles. She did this:

1. Set the temperature to 100 ^OWITH.
2. I put the baking sheet with the marshmallows in the oven.
3. Without closing the door all the way, she propped it open with a teaspoon. There was a gap of about 5 cm wide. This was enough for the air to constantly circulate in the oven chamber.
4. The temperature in the oven dropped, and the neighbor increased it “by eye” to 150 ^OC. The air in the chamber should be hot, but not scalding.

150 ^OC is not an absolute truth, it’s all about the balance between temperature and lumen width. The more hot air flows out of the oven, the faster the temperature drops.

But be careful. If you set the temperature too high, the pastille will burn.

How to make beautiful “tubes”

The pastila can simply be cut into strips, diamonds or squares. But in the store they sell it in the form of openwork tubes, and I decided to do the same.

1. I removed the pastille from the baking sheet and cooled until warm.
2. She turned the parchment upside down, flattened it on a clean table and moistened the paper with water. I simply dipped my palms into the bowl and ran them across the parchment. So the paper got wet, and the pastille did not melt.
3. I cut the marshmallow into slices about 5 cm wide.
4. I twisted them into tubes of arbitrary diameter.

To prevent the lozenges from unrolling and getting dirty, I wrapped each one with parchment paper and tied it with a thin rope. It turned out very stylish.

Recipe No. 2 – apple marshmallow with additives

Applesauce is a base into which you can add all sorts of goodies.

The simplest option is spices. Cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg - whatever you want. It turns out very aromatic and tasty.

You can add other fruits and berries to applesauce.

• Banana.

For 300 g of applesauce - 200 g of blended banana.

• Berries.

General proportion: for 400 g of applesauce, 100 g of berry puree. The most delicious combinations are made with red currants, blueberries and chokeberries.

It’s also great with lingonberries and cranberries; you can’t do without sugar here – the berries are too sour.

• Pear.

The proportions are 50/50. I prepared the pear in the same way as the apples.

• Quince.

For 300 g of applesauce, 200 g of quince puree. Very fragrant, delicious pastille.

• Apricots and orange zest.

For 300 g of applesauce, 200 g of apricot and the zest of one orange. The smell is amazing.

You can experiment with marshmallows endlessly. I also had unsuccessful attempts: the version with gooseberries didn’t even want to boil properly. But I was not at a loss: I added sugar to the pan and made a delicious jam. In winter it flew away with a whistle - under pancakes and pancakes.