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Aplets and Cotlets are a delicious Northwest candy that are made with gelatin, walnuts, and apples. Aplets and Cotlets candies are considered a Northwest delicacy. This is my version of the delicious apple and apricot gelatin candy made by the Liberty Orchards. This candy will make a great addition to your Christmas candy tray.
History: Developed by two Armenian men, Armen Tertsgian and Mark Balaban, who bought an apple farm (called Liberty Orchards) in the small town of Cashmere in eastern Washington state. Times were tough in 1918 for most orchard growers, and Tertsagian and Balaban searched for new ways to make use of their surplus fruit. Apple dehydration seemed a logical first move, and coinciding with America’s involvement in World War I, the orchard owners began providing apples for U.S. soldiers. After the war, they remembered the popular eastern candy they had loved as children called rahat locum or Turkish Delight.
After much research and development on their kitchen stove, they perfected a delicious apple and walnut recipe that they called Aplets. In 1963, at the Seattle World’s Fair, they introduced hundreds of thousands of people from outside the Northwest to this candy.
Aplets and Cotlets Recipe:
Prep Time
25 mins
Course:Dessert
Cuisine:Northwestern
Keyword:Aplets and Cotlets Recipe
Servings: 64 candy squares
Author: What's Cooking America
Ingredients
Northwest Apple Candy - Aplets:
- 1cup Deliciousapples,chopped (red or golden)
- Cold water
- 5tablespoonsreserved apple liquid
- 2cups granulatedsugar
- 3 1/2envelopes of unflavoredgelatin(8 3/4 teaspoons or approximately 3 tablespoons)*
- 1cupwater,cold
- 1/8teaspoonrose culinary essenceor 1 tablespoon rose water**
- 1cupwalnuts,coarsely chopped
- Powdered sugar(confectioners' sugar)
Northwest Apricot Candy - Cotlets:
- 6ouncesapricots,dried
- Cold water
- 5tablespoonsreserved apricot liquid
- 2cups granulatedsugar
- 3 1/2envelopes of unflavoredgelatin(8 3/4 teaspoons or approximately 3 tablespoons)*
- 1cupwater,cold
- 1tablespoonslemon juice,fresh-squeezed
- 1cupwalnuts,coarsely chopped
- Powdered sugar(confectioners' sugar)
Instructions
Northwest Apple Candy - Aplets Instructions:
Line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper or plastic wrap(this will make for a much easier removal of the Aplets).
In a large saucepan over medium heat, add chopped apples and enough cold water to cover apples by 1 inch. Bring to a boil; boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Turn heat to low and simmer another 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
Drain off liquid, reserving 5 tablespoons apple liquid. In a food processor, puree apples with reserved apple liquid until smooth. Return apple mixture back to saucepan over low, add sugar and heat and stir just until sugar is melted. Remove from heat.
In a small bowl, combine gelatin and cold water; add to apple/sugar mixture, stirring constantly until dissolved. Add rose culinary essence (or lemon juice) and walnuts; stir until well blended.
Pour into prepared pan; cool at least 2 hours but preferably overnight.
With an oiled knife, cut into 1-inch squares, then roll in powdered sugar(I found that I needed to roll the Aplets in the powdered sugar more than one time).
Store, covered, in the refrigerator.
Makes 64 candy squares.
Nothwest Apricot Candy - Cotlets Instructions:
Line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper or plastic wrap(this will make for a much easier removal of the Cotlets).
In a large saucepan over medium heat, add dried apricots and enough cold water to cover apricots by 1 inch. Bring to a boil; boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Turn heat to low and simmer another 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until apricots are soft. Remove from heat.
Drain off liquid, reserving 5 tablespoons apricot liquid; set aside.
In a food processor, puree apricots with reserved apricot liquid until smooth. Return apricot mixture back to saucepan over low, add sugar and heat and stir just until sugar is melted. Remove from heat.
In a small bowl, combine gelatin and cold water; add to apricot/sugar mixture, stirring constantly until dissolved. Add lemon juice and walnuts; stir until well blended.
Pour into prepared pan; cool at least 2 hours but preferably overnight.
With an oiled knife, cut into 1-inch squares, then roll in powdered sugar(I found that I needed to roll the Cotlets in the powdered sugar more than one time).
Store, covered, in the refrigerator.
Makes 64 candy squares.
Recipe Notes
* One envelope of unflavored granulated gelatin = approximately 1/4 ounce = approximately 2 1/2 teaspoons. Learn how to useGelatinin your cooking and also the history ofGelatin, Gelatine, and JELL-O. Granulated or powdered gelatin, gelatin sheet, or instant gelatin can be used interchangeably in your recipes. In order to achieve the correct results when preparing recipes includes gelatin, you must be able to handle gelatin properly and incorporate it correctly.
** Culinary rose essence can be found in Asian or Indian grocery and spice stores. If you are unable to find culinary essence or rose water, substitute 1 tablespoon fresh-squeezedlemon juice.
Related Recipes
Categories:
Apples Apricots Christmas Gum Drops and Chewy Candies Heirloom Recipes Pacific Northwest
Comments and Reviews
14 Responses to “Aplets and Cotlets Recipe”
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MaryV
Aplets and Cotlets from Liberty Orchard do not contain gelatin and are vegetarian friendly.
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Lila
I made the Aplets, following the recipe as given. They are tasty but are not drying out, no matter how much sugar I dusted them. What am I doing wrong?
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Rosemary Good
Originals use corn starch using corn syrup, sugar and gelatin. To me, you would be making “finger jello” following this recipe. I also wonder if originals are cut then air dried for hours before powdered sugar. And with the way originals are packaged, they would otherwise tend to stick together. I’m going experiment myself on this Christmas favorite from iur Washington state famikies. -Bluffton, Ohio
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Humphrey
They are actually not made with gelatin. They are made with pectin.
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Ella
You might be able to substitute agar agar (which is vegan should be able to find in Asian Grocery stores) for gelatine. And the natural pectin in apples (from the seeds and peels,of course strained out of the final product) would help it set better as well. Last, but not least, a tetch of rose water in the apricot would also be delish!
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Amy
What they call aplets and cotlets are Turkish Delights or Lokoum. Turkish Delights were invented by the Turkish Haci Bekir who has been producing mouth watering sweets since 1777 in the Ottoman Empire. His shop has been run by his family for 5 generations and is still the best trusted and much loved Turkish Delights maker of Turkey.
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Diana Morgan
Bring the mixture to a Soft Ball stage. Then it should set up as similar to the purchased product. See below
For example, at 235° F, the syrup is at the “soft-ball” stage. That means that when you drop a bit of it into cold water to cool it down, it will form a soft ball. Most candy recipes will tell you to boil your sugar mixture until it reaches one of the stages?
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Scott
Aplets are made with pectin and corn starch, never gelatin.
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Lyne karadimos
When making applets how much corn starch and syrup should I use,?
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Whats Cooking America
This recipe does not call or corn starch or corn syrup.
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Amanda
Tried it exactly how it was directed. My consistency was perfect but unfortunately it wasn’t tasting like aplets at all. The texture was like jelly not like an aplet.
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Gryphonisle
I’ve loved Aplets and Cotlets since first tasting them as a child, a half century ago. This recipe is very easy to make and I did so without any alterations. The recipe does not, or did not in my kitchen, produce Aplets or Cotlets. Aplets are a foreign dessert, foreign in the sense that they are neither terribly sweet (like chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cake, or apple pie) nor dramatically flavorful. In the box, they present a lovely essence of apples and apricots, in a gentle gelatin base with the occasional nut. These taste more of gelatin and have far more nuts than necessary. I love nuts and will add much more than a cup to banana bread or cookies, but these are not banana bread or cookies. Also, while both call for a cup of fruit, even when I added more than a cup of chopped apples the apples cooked down far more in the same time than did the apricots (as I expected), so I used less of the sugar as a result. Nice start, but this recipe requires more tweaking to bring the fruit out in front of the gelatin flavor.
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Nancy
Gryphonisle, let us know if you come up with a perfect ratio, this was my Grandmother’s recipe and I love Aplets and Cotlets too!
Merry Christmas
NancyReply
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Adrienne
According to Liberty Orchards, the candies are pectin based, not gelatin.
I hope to find a pectin versionReply
