November 23, 2009: Amish Apple Tree Dumplings

I made (badly) ane time before - Amish apple tree dumplings from Kurma Dasa's Vegetarian World Food. It's an ingenious agency to brand private apple tree pies - simply coil out some shortcrust pastry, tegument an apple tree per person, in addition to wrap each apple tree inward pastry. Amazing! Who'd've thunk it? The Amish, apparently.

If y'all tin handle to coil thin, flexible pastry in addition to depict the pastry together at the bottom (not the top) of the apple, they move tremendously - alongside plenty baking, the pastry in addition to apple tree are tender plenty to live scooped upward alongside a spoon. I constitute this pastry recipe to live wonderfully moist in addition to flexible, in addition to used less per apple tree than Kurma advises. The ane appear I however haven't perfected is the butterscotch sauce, which is supposed to live poured over the dumplings earlier they enter the oven. I constitute that nearly of it burned inward the bottom of the pan during baking. (Ever tried burned sugar? Not tasty.) In future, I'd endeavor brushing the dumplings alongside simply a piddling sauce, several times during the baking procedure (think of it - butterscotch varnish!) or simply rolling the dumplings inward a piddling carbohydrate in addition to skipping the sauce altogether.

Amish apple tree dumplings
(based on Kurma Dasa's recipe inward Vegetarian World Food)

3/4 loving cup champaign flour
pinch of salt
1/4 loving cup butter
2 teaspoons milk
2 tesaspoons water
1 teaspoon white vinegar
3 apples

for the sauce
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 loving cup chocolate-brown sugar
1 tablespoon water

In a nutrient processor, combine the flour in addition to salt. Add the butter inward cubes in addition to pulse the mixture until it resembles breadstuff crumbs. Sprinkle over the milk, H2O in addition to vinegar in addition to procedure the mixture until it comes together every bit a moist dough. Turn the dough onto a build clean surface, convey it together into a ball alongside your hands, roll it inward plastic, in addition to shop it inward the refrigerator until you're cook for dessert.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Peel the apples. Divide the dough into thirds in addition to on a clean, lightly floured surface, coil the 3 dough balls out to 2mm thickness. Drop a dough sail over each apple. Mould the pastry downwards some the apples until they're completely covered. (Pinch off some of the excess pastry in addition to decorate the apple tree alongside it if y'all want.) Lightly grease a small-scale baking tray in addition to house the apples on it.

In a small-scale saucepan, stir together the butter, carbohydrate in addition to H2O over medium heat. Bring them to the boil. Pour the sauce over the dumplings. (Next fourth dimension I volition endeavor brushing the pastry alongside the sauce, in addition to re-brushing several times during baking.)

Bake the dumplings for 40-50 minutes, until the pastry is golden chocolate-brown in addition to the apple tree yields easily to a knife.