A historic Russian recipe that transforms apples into a marshmallowy confection.
Pastila
A historic Russian recipe that transforms apples into a marshmallowy confection.
Equipment
- oven
- stand mixer
Ingredients
- 6 Granny Smith apples large
- 3/4 C. granulated sugar
- 2 egg whites large
- 1/2 C. powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
Apple Pureé
- Preheat oven to 350˚F/177˚C.
- Wash the apples and place them in a 9"x12" baking pan. Add 1 1/2 cups of water.
- Bake for 1 hour or until the apples are saggy and soft when pierced with a knife. Allow to cool to room temperature.
- Press the cooked apples through a strainer to remove the skins and cores.
Batter
- Into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add the egg whites and apple pureé.
- Turn the mixture on medium-high speed and slowly add the sugar.
- Continuing beating on medium-high speed for 10 minutes. Periodically scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Preheat oven to 180˚F.
- Line a rimmed baking pan (a half-sheet or 2, quarter-sheets) with parchment including the sides.
- Reserve 2 cups of batter for gluing the layers.
- Spread the remaining batter into the lined pan(s) and smooth into an even layer.
- Bake at 180˚F/82˚C for 4-7 hours or until the dry to the touch.
Assembly
- Preheat oven to 180˚F/82˚C.
- When the pastila is completely cool, gently peel the parchment paper away. If the pastry sticks to the paper use a spatula to gently scrape it off.
- If using quarter-sheet pans cut each layer half for a total of 4 rectangles.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment and place one layer of pastila.
- Scoop a couple of teaspoons of the reserved batter and with an off-set spatula spread it out evenly. Add another layer of pastila. Repeat for the remaining layers.
- Coat the sides and top of the layered pastilla with any remaining batter.
- Bake at 180˚F/82˚C for an hour and a half.
- Cool completely.
- Using a dampened knife and a sawing motion, slice the pastila into 1" wide slices.
- Gently roll the pastila slices in powdered sugar. Serve with a cup of tea.
- Store in an airtight container for a couple of days.
Nutrition
Calories: 161kcalCarbohydrates: 41gProtein: 1gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 14mgPotassium: 159mgFiber: 3gSugar: 36gVitamin A: 74IUVitamin C: 6mgCalcium: 9mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Emmy, do you think pastila can be made in the dehydrator instead of the oven, since it has a longish oven time? 🙂
Hi, Emmy! I still have a lot of dehydrated wild tart apples in my food storage, and I’m wondering if you have any experience with using dehydrated apple chips for baking, possibly even in this recipe. I’ve only ever used them a snack and chips, so any help you can provide would be welcome, please. 😀
Thank you for sharing your culinary adventures online! 🙂
Given the low dehydration temperature, I would be tempted to use powdered sugar between the parchment paper and the mixture to hopefully cut down on the baked result sticking. Of course, I tend to make a mess in the kitchen.
I’m thinking if wax paper is used this recipe would have an easier “release”.
I make an Italian Sponge cake that has a similar texture and I have found using WAX over PARCHMENT paper makes a prettier result as in removing the paper!!
So EXCITED to try this recipe!!
All day’s work and the result was far from stellar. I will never make this again.
Is there something that will help the pastilla to not stick? Powdered sugar? This also seems like a two day process. How do you store the extra cream? Just covered on the counter?
Was ok. The 2nd time we did it we buttered the pan before we put it in the oven for 6 hours and came off the parchment paper without a problem.
I’m in the process now. I only have one baking pan, I’m hoping that I can use the other half of the batter after. And I’m curious about how to hold the 2 c of extra reserved batter. Things that make you go hmm and mmm
Can you use jarred apple sauce ? If so how much ?
Hello Emmy. Can you use monk fruit sweetener instead of sugar for this recipe? If so it would make this treat a free food on weight watchers diet.
Wendy
This came out great and must be super forgiving…. I had to make lots of changes. I had tiny apples so used 17 of them, didn’t have parchment so I used nonstick tinfoil, let the pastila cool in my 2 quarter sheet pans and it was rock hard! I thought I had ruined it but went ahead and finished the last steps anyway, very carefully cutting the rock hard sheets in half! It still came out beautifully soft and squishy after the last 1.5 hours of baking! Thank you so much for making the video, I was afraid to try this one until you showed me how!
Bonjour, Hi Emmy,
J’ai trouvé des pommes à chair rouge : assez proche de la pomme reinette en goût et acidité et j’ai ajouté un peu de gomme de guar pour épaissir la mousse.
La mousse est une tuerie (amaizing).
Rouge, elle s’est bien blanchie, mais encore légèrement rose.
J’ai gardé un peu de pâte crue au réfrigérateur pour la recette, je craignais que le blanc tombe au bout de 6 heures, à moins que ce soit au frais que le blanc tombe, je verrai ; et un peu de mousse au congélateur pour l’essayer en “glace”.
Pour le moment la pastilla est en train de sécher.
Bien à vous.
I followed this recipe to the letter. After 9 hours at 180 the batter was still mushy and sticky. Can you help?
wonderful video, have to try it my own. We have so many apples in the garden! I’m now making – Dulce de Membrillo – from Quinces for Christmas and I’m very excited. Would be great to taste and compare the apple marshmallows with the quince paste.
Will the pectin in the baked apples inapporpriately set if we wait a day between the 1 hr bake and the beating with sugar? Can it be refrigerated and beat the next day with the sugar (I assume to set the pectin)?
Amazing! Delish! Beautiful! This Recipe is now demanded by my son!
I tried it and liked the taste. However, I understand why your video did not show getting the material off the parchment paper. Mine did not come off in whole pieces as you managed, so my creation was lumpier than yours. Since I don’t like really sweet things I did not use the powder sugar but liked the taste very much. I am not sure whether I did not cook the tray long enough ( 6 hours)or if there is another way to separate the parchment paper. Could I spray the parchment paper with PAM or something?
Also, original recipe says reserve 1 and a half cups for assembly but your two would have been better. I also made 4 levels in mine, so it made only 3 servings, but delicious.Not sure if I will do it again. Fussy scraping skin fragments but fun to get the volume from the egg whites.
Will be trying this recipe, but I usually skim the helpful comment sections and wondered if (as mentions in the comments): 1/ the use of unsweetened apple sauce can still be used; 2/ whether buttering the parchment paper works; and, 3/ whether substituting the sugar for honey or maple syrup is advisable?
Thank you for this wonderful (nutritious) marshmallow recipe… it was hard to find one that didn’t contain “corn syrup”.
I made this incorrectly the first time, misjudging the size of my pan and having to bake it much longer, and it was a hit at the apple product testing I did with 4th and 5th grade students. I split the mixture between 2 pans this time and can’t wait to try the result, since I didn’t get any the first time. It’s just so much fun to make!
can this be frozen? how long can I store in the refrigerator?
how much apple pulp should I have from the six apples?