1 Place ground seeds, water and milk or apple juice into a saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil and allow to simmer a couple of minutes. Add butter, honey, lemon zest, raisins, sugar, salt, cinnamon and stir well. Watch your heat. The mixture should without sticking. 2 The ingredients should blend and any liquid should be absorbed. You will be left with a thick paste. This should take 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in almonds, jam, or apple (or both). Cool very well before using. Filling will thicken further as it cools. 3 Keep filling refrigerated until needed. If mixture is too thick (if using directly from the refrigerator) allow it to warm a bit and / or loosen with a bit of warm water. Recipe doubles well.

For best flavor and texture, ground poppy seeds are a must. You will find the mixture in finer spice stores and European markets or order it from places like www.TheSpiceHouse.com online. Or, get a poppy seed grinder and grind the poppy seeds yourself. Just soaking poppy seeds does not soften them enough nor does a food processor or coffee mill do an adequate job. IF you cannot find a grinder nor ground poppy seeds, then 'doctor' up store-bought poppy seed filling with ground raisins, grated apple, some jam, a bit of honey and it will still be quite exceptional.

Source:

BetterBaking.com