Apple-cherry solozhenik
Delicate blini, fruity apple-cherry filling and airy meringue – that's what the delicious solozhenik is made of. It combines so many different flavors that you practically experience a taste explosion in your mouth. You can make the popular Ukrainian dessert yourself with this recipe without much effort. Treat your loved ones to it on an ordinary weekend or serve it at a party.
Servings 6
Equipment
- 31 cm x 20 cm casserole dish
Ingredients
for the apple filling
- 250 g apples cored
- 20 g sugar
- 20 g butter
- 1 tsp cinnamon
for the cherry filling
- 350 g sour cherries frozen
- 40 g sugar
- 15 g cornstarch
for the blini
- 4 egg yolks
- approx. 190 ml milk lukewarm
- 70 g butter melted and cooled to lukewarm
- 40 g sugar
- 130 g flour
- 1 pinch of salt
for the meringue
- 4 egg whites
- 100 g sugar
- 1 pinch of citric acid food grade
Instructions
Preparation of the apple filling
- Cut apples into small cubes.
- Melt butter in a frying pan. Add apples along with sugar and cinnamon and fry over medium heat, stirring, for about 5 minutes so that apples soften. Let the apple filling cool down.
Preparation of the cherry filling
- Mix sugar with cornstarch.
- Put sour cherries in a pan with the sugar-cornstarch mixture and heat slowly over low heat, stirring, until juices have formed and the cherries are thawed.
- Now bring the cherry mixture to a boil, stirring constantly, and cook until thickened, about 1 - 2 minutes. Let the cherry filling cool down.
Preparation of the blini
- Mix egg yolks, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl.
- Add melted butter cooled to lukewarm and 100 ml milk and mix.
- Add flour and mix to form a viscous batter.
- Now add the rest of the milk in portions until you get a slightly thick batter, not too thin, but a bit thicker than the classic blini batter. Let the batter rest for 20 minutes.
- Heat a non-stick frying pan. Using a ladle, pour some batter into the hot pan and make brisk circular motions with the pan so that the batter is even and thin, but slightly thicker than classic blini, all over the surface of the pan. Fry the pancake over medium heat until golden brown to golden brown on both sides. Repeat the procedure until all the batter is used up (for me, 8 pancakes each about Ø 20 cm large), stirring the batter in the mixing bowl as you go.
- Fill half of the still warm blini with the apple filling and the other half with the cherry filling, form the blini into rolls and arrange them closely next to each other in a casserole dish. How to fill the blini and form them into rolls: To do this, spread about 2 tablespoons (or depending on the size of your pancakes) of cherry filling on one side of a pancake lengthwise first and roll up the pancake. Repeat the same with the other pancakes and the remaining cherry filling. Then do the same with the second half of the pancakes and the apple filling.
Preparation of the meringue
- Beat egg whites, citric acid and sugar until stiff.
- Spread the meringue on the filled blini in the casserole dish and smooth it down. Alternatively, you can put some of the meringue in a piping bag with a star nozzle and use it to pipe flowers on the surface.
- Bake the solozhenik in a preheated oven at 170 °C top and bottom heat for about 15 minutes, until its surface is lightly browned.
Notes
- The blini batter for solozhenik should not be too thin, but slightly thicker than for classic blini. Otherwise, the blini might crack, as the batter does not contain whole eggs, only egg yolks, and thus has less binding.
- You can adjust the amount of sugar for the fillings and blini batter to taste.
- You can make the apple and cherry fillings the day before, let them cool and store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator overnight.
- Do not leave the solozhenik unattended in the oven for too long, as it can quickly burn on the surface.
- Note the detailed tips and tricks for making the apple-cherry solozhenik at the top of the post.