katienotinnola posted: " Some desserts are tasty and photogenic. Others are just tasty. Apple dumplings fall into the latter category. I have made fruit dumplings from time to time over the years, usually with apples. I make them in the fall when I am running out of apple confec"
Some desserts are tasty and photogenic. Others are just tasty. Apple dumplings fall into the latter category. I have made fruit dumplings from time to time over the years, usually with apples. I make them in the fall when I am running out of apple confection ideas, having made apple pie, apple crisp, apple-cranberry pie, apple cake, applesauce, apple butter. Apple dumplings taste good, but they tend to collapse under the weight of their goodness.
The ingredients for the dumplings:
1 batch of pie crust for a 9" pie;
4 apples (small if available);
3/4 cup brown sugar;
1/4 cup soft butter;
1 teaspoon cinnamon;
1/2 teaspoon salt.
For the sauce:the apple peels and cores from the 4 apples;
1-1/2 cups water;
2 tablespoons butter;
1/2 cup brown sugar;
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.
First, Philip made me a pie crust, shown above wrapped in parchment. Get yourself a piecrust however you can.
Next, I peeled and cored the apples. I have an apple corer (shown at work), which not only is handy for coring apples but also is great at making eyes when carving pumpkins.
I added the water to the peels and cores and simmered the concoction while I made the rest of the dish - about 15 or 20 minutes of cooking.
The liquid had reduced to about 1 cup.
Next I made the mixture which would be the stuffing for the apple cavities. I mixed the brown sugar, soft butter, salt and cinnamon in a little bowl.
Next I rolled the pie crust out into a semi-rectangular shape on the piece of parchment it had been resting in.
I cut the pie crust into 4 roughly equal pieces.
I set one of the peeled and cored apples on a piece of pie crust and started filling the hole with some of the filling.
More cavity filling. The filling was pretty solid and moldable so I could pack it in.
Next I pulled up the edges of the pie crust to encase the apple. This was a little like playing with clay or playdough.
The fit was not perfect but with a little stretching and squeezing and even a bit of patching, I covered each of the apples with pie crust.
I preheated the oven to 450 degrees.
The dumplings baked at 450 for 10 minutes, then I turned the heat down to 350 degrees and baked the dumplings for another 40 minutes or so.
They are done when a skewer meets no resistance when stuck into the apple.
I am not sure what this is a video of. Apple dumplings, certainly.
See what I mean about collapse under the weight of their goodness?
While the apples were baking, I strained the apple juice and discarded the peels and cores. I put the juice back in the little saucepan and added the sugar, butter, salt and cinnamon. There was a bit of the apple filling left and I threw that in too. I cooked the sauce until it came to a boil, then turned it off.
Philip and I shared a dumpling, with nice warm sauce. It was lovely. Both the dumplings and sauce keep. Later on, you can serve the dumplings cold with warm sauce. Smaller apples are better, but farmer's market apples tend to be on the medium to large to enormous side.
As for the variety of apple, I would avoid Delicious, as they are not in fact delicious. I would avoid Granny Smith because they are really hard and don't ever really soften enough. Same thing for Golden Delicious. McIntosh would be good or anything in the Jonathan family.
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