I love sweet things. And I especially love sweet things made with apples... apple crisp, apple pie, Aunt Laura's apple cake, apple brown Betty, you name it. But one of my favorite things to do with apples is to make apple dumplings. They are rich, sweet, gooey and delicious. I like to use a good all purpose apple for these, like a Golden Delicious or JonaGold. Here's how I make them:
1 ready made double crust pie shell
Or homemade pie crust enough for a double crust pie
2 large apples, peeled, cored and quartered
½ cup brown sugar mixed with ½ cup white sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon or apple pie spice (mix with sugar)
¼ cup butter
If using the ready made pie crust, cut into quarters/if using homemade roll out and cut into 5 inch squares. Center an apple quarter on each section of cut out dough, add a tiny dot of butter and about ½ tsp. of sugar spice mixture, then wrap the edges of the dough around the apple quarter and mold it tightly. Place in a 9x13 cake pan. Repeat with remaining apple quarters and pie dough. Bake at 400 degrees about 30 minutes or until they begin to brown.
Meanwhile, pour the remaining sugar and spice mix, along with an additional cup of brown sugar, 4 cups of apple juice or cider, the remaining butter and some additional cinnamon (about ½ tsp.). Bring to a boil and simmer about 15 minutes. When the dumplings are beginning to brown spoon about ½ of the hot syrup over them and continue baking another 15 minutes, then spoon the remaining syrup over the dumplings and continue baking 20-30 minutes more. The dumplings should swell and get a shiny brown. Remove from oven and eat slightly warm or at room temperature. Refrigerate any leftovers, if there are any! These are great topped with some cream or ice cream. Enjoy!
