Bosnian Walnut-Stuffed Apples (Tufahije)
Tufahije Say it: too-FAH-hee-yeh
Tufahije come to the table ice-cold: a whole poached apple slick with lemon syrup, its hollow packed with a dense walnut paste and capped with softly whipped cream. It is the sweet Sarajevo sets out at weddings, at Eid and at the end of an ordinary family lunch, and it eats like a baked apple crossed with a nut tart — yielding fruit, sweet syrup, ground walnuts and cold cream. For the cook, the appeal is that the work is spread out: the apples poach in a quarter of an hour, then rest in their syrup overnight, so the day itself only asks for stuffing and whipping.
Bosnian Walnut-Stuffed Apples (Tufahije)
Tufahije
Pronounced too-FAH-hee-yeh
- Serves
- 5
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 15 min
- Total
- 45 min
- Level
- Easy
Also egg-free.
Allergens: contains milk, nuts. Check labels on packaged ingredients.
Ingredients
Amounts are scaled. Cooking times and pan sizes stay the same.
Walnut filling and topping
Method
Cut the lemon in half. Peel the apples and core them from the top with an apple corer or a small knife, stopping about 1/2 inch (1 cm) above the base so the filling has a floor to rest on. Rub the peeled fruit and the hollows with the cut lemon, then drop the apples into a bowl of cold water.
Set a wide, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat with the sugar and water. Stir until the sugar has dissolved and the liquid is just beginning to simmer gently — keep it short of a hard boil. Squeeze in the juice of the remaining lemon half and stir in the vanilla sugar.
Drain the apples and lay them in the syrup in a single layer. Cover the pot, lower the heat and poach for 10–15 minutes, turning once, until a pierced apple is tender but still holding its shape.
Lift the apples out with a slotted spoon and settle them in a deep dish. Pour the hot syrup over them, leave to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
For the filling, grind or chop the walnuts finely. Work in 4–5 tablespoons (60–75 ml) of the cooled apple syrup until you have a thick, spreadable paste; loosen it with a little more syrup if it seems stiff.
In a clean bowl, whip the chilled cream with the confectioners' sugar to medium-firm peaks. Stir about 2 tablespoons of the whipped cream into the walnut paste to lighten it.
Take the cold apples from the syrup and let the excess drain away. Spoon the walnut mixture into each apple, mounding it above the rim, then pipe or spoon the remaining whipped cream on top. Serve chilled.
Regional variant: Tufahija sa kajmakom
Leave out the whipped cream. Prepare and poach the apples in exactly the same way, then fill them with the walnut paste. Spoon 1–2 tablespoons of chilled kaymak or clotted cream over each cooled apple and finish with a drizzle of the syrup.
Cook's notes
- Firm, sweet-tart apples hold their shape through poaching: Golden Delicious, Jonagold and Braeburn are reliable choices.
- Begin testing at 10 minutes — the fruit should give easily at the centre without collapsing, and it firms up slightly as it cools in the syrup.
- Apples that insist on floating can be held under the surface with a small heatproof plate or a lid set directly on top.
Serve with
Offer them well chilled as a dessert, alongside Turkish coffee, with a little of the syrup from the dish spooned over.
Make ahead and storage
The poached apples keep, covered in their syrup, for up to 2 days in the refrigerator; add the walnut filling and the cream just before serving.
