There’s nothing that signals the arrival of the fall season quite like a trip to our local orchard and farm market. The drive there on country roads under canopies of trees laden with brightly colored leaves is breathtaking, to say the least. Upon entering the apple barn, I’m greeted with the unmistakable fragrance of freshly picked apples of many varieties.  They are piled in bins and sorted according to name and best use for each type. For example, some are better for making apple pie, some are delicious to eat, some are great for making caramel apples and others make the best applesauce and apple butter.

Sweet potatoes and Kennebec potatoes, (a home grown type common to this area and a great all purpose potato) are also in abundance. Mini pumpkins, gourds and flint corn (historically known as Indian corn) for decorating, are available by the truckload. 

Of course, there’s also acorn and butternut squash - delicious when sliced in half and baked with a little rub of warm spice like cinnamon or a pumpkin pie spice blend and some pure maple syrup.

After my purchase of apples, I feel compelled to make apple dumplings.  This recipe was given to me by my best friend’s mother, which to me is the best dumpling ever! Sweet and filled with cinnamon and apple goodness.  Serve the finished product with vanilla ice cream or sweet whipped cream!  How do you like yours?

Country Apple Dumplings

Sauce Ingredients:

• 3 teaspoons unsalted butter

• 1 cup sugar

• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg

• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon

• 2 cups water

Dumpling Ingredients:

• 4 medium apples (I prefer Honeycrisp apples)

• 2 ready-to-bake pie crust dough rolls

• 4 tablespoons flour for rolling out dough

• 8 teaspoons sugar

• 4 teaspoons unsalted butter

• 1 teaspoons nutmeg

• 1 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:

Spread flour onto a clean work surface and roll out room-temperature pie dough with a rolling pin, making it just a bit thinner than it comes out of the box. Cut each pie dough down the center and across, creating four evenly-sized wedge-shaped pieces.

Wash, peel and core the apples, then cut them in half. Then, using a pastry brush, coat the edges each pastry wedge with water. Now place each of the apple halves, cut side up, onto the center of each wedge-shaped pastry triangle. Preheat oven to 425°F.

Place one teaspoon of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of unsalted butter on each apple half, then sprinkle each with a dash (around 1/8 teaspoon) of cinnamon and a dash (around 1/8 teaspoon) of nutmeg. Now create the dumplings by bringing the moistened edges up and pinch them together, covering each apple half. This will yield 8 individual dumplings.

Place the apple dumplings onto an ungreased 9” x 13” oven-proof baking pan (I prefer a glass pan) that has a lip of at least a two-inch lip to hold the liquid while baking.

In a medium saucepan combine the water, sugar, butter, nutmeg and cinnamon. Stir constantly and bring the mixture to a boil. Once it’s reached a boil, carefully pour the hot liquid over the unbaked dumplings, covering them equally. Place the pan of dumplings into the oven and bake at 425°F for 35-40 minutes.

At least twice during baking, remove the pan from the oven and use a long-handled stainless steel spoon to pick up the liquid from the pan and coat each of the dumplings once again. The pan and liquid will be hot, so please be careful. The liquid will thicken as the dumplings bake.  When the pastry is lightly browned, remove the pan from the oven, and allow to cool completely.

Tips and Tricks:

Serve individual dumplings on a plate or in a dessert bowl making sure to include some of the basting sauce.

Serve with a scoop of ice cream or whipped cream. For extra interest, drizzle with caramel sauce, pure maple syrup, or honey and finish with a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Tools:

Below I’ve provided links to some of my favorite products that could be useful for making these Country Apple Dumplings.