Apple Dumplings

The dumplings apple is a very simple dessert to make. These are small cakes filled with said fruit, and cinnamon. In some cases, it can have raisins as well.

Whenever we want a quick dessert to make and, without a lot of sugar, we can turn to this recipe that originates from the northwestern region of the United States. In fact, it is part of the Amish cookbook.

How do you usually eat? For breakfast or for dessert. It is usually accompanied with a touch of milk or ice cream.  But we can also enjoy it alone, with our usual drink: coffee, tea or infusion.

The apple is well known for being the ideal fruit to make all kinds of desserts. It looks great in cakes, muffins, cakes, biscuits and, of course, in  dumplings .

In the recipe that we are going to comment on next, we will not use sugar but honey. However, you should know that the original recipe for apple dumplings usually includes two cups of sugar.

Apple dumplings

Ingredients

• 4 apples.
• ½ cup of milk (50 ml).
• 2 cups of flour (200 g).
• 1 teaspoon of salt (5 g).
• 1/2 cup of honey (50 g).
• 1 glass of water (250 ml).
• 1 stick of butter (125 g).
• ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon (2.5 g).
• 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg (2.5 g).
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder (10 g).

Preparation

• We preheat the oven to 180ºC.
• We dissolve the sugar in the water and bring it to a boil. We constantly stir and after 5 minutes, remove from the heat.
• Add the cinnamon, nutmeg and ¼ stick of butter.
• We peel the apples.
• We remove the heart and proceed to cut them into 8 pieces.
• Besides, we mix the flour, the salt and the yeast.
• Use your fingers to undo the remaining butter in the flour, mixing lightly until you form a tender dough. We add the milk little by little.

• We knead the dough until it is a homogeneous dough, which can be handled with the hands.
• We stretch the pasta until it is half a centimeter thick and cut squares of 12 centimeters per side. We put 4 pieces of apple in each square.
• Sprinkle the apple with sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Place half a teaspoon of butter on the fruit and spread the tips of the square on top.
• We join the edges of the square well, so that the apple does not come out, and place the cakes, leaving 3 centimeters of separation between one and the other, on a previously greased or lined with baking paper.
• We pour the syrup (the boiled water and sugar) on top.
• We bake for 30 minutes.
• We serve hot with a little whipped cream, ice cream or yogurt.

Apple raisin dumplings

Ingredients

• 3 apples.
• Raisins.
• Cinnamon powder.
• 2 margarine bars (250 g).
• 1/2 liter of water (500 ml).
• 2 cups of flour (200 g).
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt (2.5 g).
• 2 cups of brown sugar or honey (200 g).

Preparation

• We preheat the oven to 180ºC.
• We mix the margarine with the flour, the salt and add the cold water. We stir well until the ingredients are integrated.
• We peel the apples and remove the core.
• We mix a little brown sugar with cinnamon.
• Besides, we prepare the syrup. To do this, we boil 200 ml of water with a cup and a half of brown sugar. We constantly stir so that it does not stick.
• We divide the flour dough into three parts and cut each piece into a square (about the size of a napkin more or less) 1 centimeter thick.
• We fill the apples with raisins and the mixture of sugar, cinnamon and place each apple in the center of one of the squares.
• We join the ends of each square in the center, on the apple and join the edges well to seal it.

• We paint the dumplings with the caramel (the sugar and water mixture) and place them on a previously greased baking tray.
• Bake for 40 minutes at 180ºC.
• After the first 20 minutes, we open the oven and paint the dumplings with the caramel again. We repeat this operation three more times.

recommendations

If we do not want our filling to spill during cooking, it is important that we seal the edges of the pasta well. Likewise, we will leave separation between each one so that they do not stick together.

To decorate, we can sprinkle the dumpling with a little honey, agave or maple syrup. We can also sprinkle some ground seeds to give it a crunchy touch; walnuts are very good.