Manu's baked apple balls

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 1 bag of apples, dried slices
• 1 handful of raisins
• 250 ml cider or apple juice
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ bag of gelling sugar for jam, not gelling sugar
• 100 g butter
• 35 g sugar
• 150 g low-fat curd cheese
• some orange flavor, a few drops
• 300 g flour
• ½ pack of baking powder
• 1 tsp, smothered cinnamon
• 50 g almond(s), chopped
• 75 g raisins
• 2 tbsp rum
• g icing sugar, for rolling
• 125 g butter

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes; Rest time approx. 5 hours 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 18 minutes; Total time approx. 7 hours 18 minutes

Stollen pastry without candied lemon and orange peel

For the baked apple mixture: Cut the dried apple slices and a handful of raisins into small pieces and place them in a saucepan. Add the cinnamon and pour in the apple cider. Mix the gelling agent with 2 tablespoons of sugar and add to the apple mixture. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and simmer for 3 minutes. It’s best to chill the mixture in a saucepan or in a bowl in the refrigerator for at least 5 hours to set. For the dough: Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, then stir in the quark and orange flavoring. Mix the flour, baking powder, and cinnamon, add, and stir briefly. Then add the almonds, raisins, and rum, and knead by hand into a smooth dough. The dough shouldn’t be too dry, but it shouldn’t be sticky either; add more flour or rum if needed. Refrigerate the dough for about half an hour. Then shape the dough into tennis-ball-sized balls. Press them into a flatbread with your fingers. Place about half a teaspoon of the baked apple mixture into the center and press them together again to form a ball. Place them, pressed side down, on a baking sheet lined with baking paper and bake at 180°C for about 15 minutes, until golden yellow. In the meantime, melt the butter in a saucepan and sift the icing sugar into a deeper dish. Remove the balls from the oven and let them cool slightly. Once they are warm and no longer hot, turn them over in the melted butter in the pan and roll them directly in the icing sugar. This recipe makes 20 to 30 balls, depending on the size. Tip: They taste best when they have been left to rest for 1 to 2 days.