Family Chow Hall

Mom’s Famous Apple Dumplings

November 5th, 2006

Apple dumplings made by my mother are a treat that is well-known by all family members and many members of her community. They are truly an especially delicious delight to those people who have the great fortune to taste them.

It must be the fall weather — I have been thinking of Mom and her dumplings. A friend of hers who has a lot of apple trees will bring her apples in the fall and Mom will always reward him with a large pan of her fresh homemade apple dumplings. Then she makes some for some other friends, family, and for Dad. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that she has a partially-eaten pan of them on her counter right now.

I remember, after I grew up and was starting to do a lot of my own cooking, trying my own apple dumplings. I was quite disappointed. Most recipes I have found instruct you to peel and core the apples, stuff them with a mixture that contains raisins and/or nuts, then wrap them in pastry dough before baking.

Mom’s dumplings are like this only in that; a. they contain apples, and b. you use pastry dough. Trust me, Mom’s dumplings beat those other recipes, hands-down. You peel and core the apples, cut them into chunks, make a filling similar to pie filling, and wrap them with the dough. The “secret” (which I guess will not be a secret any longer) is that she makes a syrup and pours it over everything before baking the dumplings.

Apple Dumplings, Mom’s Way
makes eight large dumplings

Pie Dough:
1 1/3 c. shortening
3 c. flour
1 1/2 t. salt
7 T. water

Filling:
8 small apples - Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, or any baking apple
2/3 c. sugar
2 T. cinnamon

Syrup:
1 c. sugar
2 1/2 c. water
3 T. butter
1/2 t. cinnamon

I won’t fool you by saying this is one of those quick and easy desserts. An efficient person can plan on spending at least 30 minutes in the kitchen here.

Start with the dough — Cut the shortening, flour, and salt together into course crumbs. Then add the water and toss until it begins to form a ball. Next you will separate the dough into eight lumps and, once the filling is made, roll each into a circle.

The filling is self-explanatory. Peel, core, and chop the apples into bite-sized pieces. In a bowl, toss the apples with the sugar and cinnamon. Divide equally among your eight circles of dough.

Fold the dough up and around the filling and pinch to seal. Carefully turn them over, so the pinched side is down, into a greased 9 x 13 pan.

Now take a moment to turn on your oven to 400 degrees. In a saucepan, combine the sugar, water, butter, and cinnamon to make the syrup. Heat this up until the sugar is dissolved, probably bring it to a simmer for a couple of minutes. Then pour this syrup over the dumplings. They will not be floating in it, but it is enough to make them nice and moist.

Bake for 40 minutes.

You will have to let them cool for a while, an hour is a reasonable amount of time. That will give you enough time to run to the grocery to get some vanilla ice cream to go with them.

Entry Filed under: Desserts, Holidays, Old-Fashioned Foods, Pie, Recipes