Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Tufahije
Whole apples poached in syrup and stuffed with sweet walnuts, topped with cream, an elegant Ottoman-Bosnian sweet.
Bosnian · medium · serves 4
prep 25 min · cook 30 min
~1003 cal · 10g protein · 116g carbs · 61g fat · 9g fiber · 101g sugars · 17g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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AI-generated illustration
Tufahije is a beautiful Bosnian dessert of Ottoman origin, a whole apple poached until tender in a sweet syrup, then hollowed and stuffed with a rich walnut filling. Its name comes from the Arabic word for apple, a reminder of the long reach of the Ottoman kitchen.
The apples are gently cooked so they hold their shape, then filled with ground walnuts bound with sugar and a little of the syrup, and crowned with a swirl of whipped cream. Served in a glass with the poaching syrup pooled around it, tufahije is as elegant to look at as it is to eat.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
4 firm apples
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 cups water
1 lemon, juiced
1 cup walnuts, ground
1 tbsp vanilla sugar (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
1 cup whipped cream, to serve
Instructions
1
Peel and core the apples, keeping them whole, and poach gently in the water, sugar, and lemon until just tender.
✎ Chef’s note
Poach the apples slowly and lift them out the moment they yield to a knife. Overcooked, they collapse instead of holding their filled shape.
2
Lift out the apples and reduce the syrup a little.
3
Mix the ground walnuts with the vanilla and a few spoons of syrup into a paste and stuff the apple cavities.
4
Sit each apple in a dish with syrup around it and top with whipped cream.
Bosnian Ottoman-influenced sweets.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Sarajevo. Burek in Bosnia means meat and nothing else. The same coiled pastry filled with cheese is sirnica, with spinach zeljanica, with potato krompirusa, and calling any of them burek will get you corrected. Coffee is unfiltered, poured from a copper dzezva and drunk slowly against a cube of sugar.
🗺️
Bosnia & Herzegovina. In Bosnia, burek means the meat one and nothing else. The cheese version is sirnica, the potato one krompirusa, the spinach one zeljanica, and calling any of them burek marks you out immediately. Coffee arrives in a copper dzezva with an empty cup and a cube of sugar, for the drinker to pour and to take their time over.
🌍
Europe. European cooking is built on the land and the seasons, wheat, butter, and cured pork in the north; olive oil, tomatoes, and seafood around the Mediterranean; preserved vegetables and hearty stews through long winters. Centuries of peasant tradition, guild craft, and royal courts refined techniques from French mother sauces to Italian fresh pasta and Central European baking. Regional identity runs remarkably deep, with a single dish often changing from one valley to the next.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Bosnia & Herzegovina
ĆevapiHand-rolled grilled beef fingers tucked into pillowy somun with raw onion and kajmak, Sarajevo’s pride.
Uštipci with KajmakLittle fried dough balls served warm with kajmak clotted cream and soft cheese.
Begova ČorbaA rich, velvety chicken and okra soup finished with a sour cream and egg yolk liaison, the noble Bey's soup of Bosnian cuisine.
Browse all Bosnia & Herzegovina recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Keeps 2 to 3 days refrigerated. Resteam or warm through gently to serve.
Make it a Bosnia & Herzegovina meal
Bosanski LonacDinner
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Cuisine
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Frequently asked questions
What is Tufahije?
Whole apples poached in syrup and stuffed with sweet walnuts, topped with cream, an elegant Ottoman-Bosnian sweet.
Where does Tufahije come from?
Tufahije is a Bosnian dish from Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Can Tufahije be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Tufahije recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Tufahije safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Tufahije take to make?
About 55 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 30 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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