Side Story

My mother-in-law has always made the BEST apple dumplings. One day I went over to help/watch her make them. She pulled out an old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. I looked at it and said, "Hey! I think I have that one!" Sure enough, I got home and though it wasn't exactly like hers, it had the same dumplings recipe in it. Now that I've made these a few times, I've tweaked the recipe to my liking/preferences. I wouldn't say they are the easiest things in the world to make, but so worth the work - and you get the added bonus of a house that smells delicious while these are cooking.

 

 

Apple Dumplings

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sugar + 2 tablespoons
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon + 1 tablespoon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3 tablespoons butter + 1 tablespoon
2 cups sifted self-rising flour (sift first, then measure - it matters)
2/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup milk
5 medium apples, peeled, cored, quartered and sliced. I use Granny Smith.

(Click here for instructions without pictures)

1. In medium saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1 1/2 cups water, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg and bring to boil. Remove from heat and add 3 tablespoons of butter. Set aside.



2. Sift flour and measure out 2 cups. In large bowl, cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.


3. Add milk all at once and stir until flour is just moistened (might seem a little dry - it's okay.)

4. On lightly floured surface, roll dough about 1/4 inch thick. Cut into 6 5x5 inch squares (mine never turn out "square" no matter what I do. Also, I usually cut 3 squares and then ball the dough up and roll it out again to get the next 3 squares.)

5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

6. Lightly coat a 12x17x1 baking pan with cooking spray.

7. Place dough squares on baking pan and place approximately 1/3 cup of apples on each square. Sprinkle each apple with 1 teaspoon of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. Dot with butter (butter not pictured here.)

5. Moisten edges of squares and fold in corners to center. Pinch edges together. (Your first couple might not be pretty, but they'll get better.)

6. Pour the syrup over the dumplings. There will be about 1/4 of syrup standing in the pan when you are done. Sprinkle the dumplings with sugar.

7. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until apples are done. Syrup will bubble.

8. Remove from oven and immediately transfer to individual plates. Very quickly spoon out the "sauce" from the baking pan over the dumplings - it gets sticky when it cools.

9. Serve immediately or cover each dumpling with a piece of wax paper and wrap with plastic wrap.

Contact Shawn with questions or comments.

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