Apple Dumplings in Syrup

                 One of my friends mothers has a small plaque on her kitchen wall that says "warm apple dumplings".  Everytime I saw that plaque, I have wanted them.  I remember scolding my friend once, "you advertise these warm apple dumplings, but you never have them".  It would be the winter of course and perfect for such a thing.

                   I took it upon myself to make these heavenly delights.  I searched around the internet and learned that they are basically self contained apple pies.  What sets them apart from a traditional pie is a caramel like syrup that they cook in.



                    You can make the crust a day ahead of time.  I used the same pastry dough as I did for the empanada's, courtesy of epicurious.com.  It only takes 5 minutes to make in a food processor

Ingredients for the dough

• 2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup ice water
• 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

Add the flour and salt in the food processor.  Pulse for a few seconds to combine the salt and flour.

Then add the butter slices to the food processor.  Process until the mixture looks like a course meal.

Whisk the egg with the ice water and vinegar.  Then add it to the flour.  Pulse the mixture until the dough forms a nice ball in the processor.

Remove the dough from the processor, form it into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Ingredients for the sauce

• 1 Cup white sugar
• 2 Cups of water
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 2 Tbl butter

Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan.  Cook on medium heat until all of the sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat.

Ingredients for the filling

• 5 small apples.  (I used honey crisp apples.  I bought the ones already bagged.  They are smaller than ones you pick out yourself.  They are more little kid sized.)
• 3 Tbl butter
• 6 tsp brown sugar
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• 3/8 tsp of allspice

Peel the apples and place them in cold water until you are ready to use them.  I used an apple corer/slicer to easily slice the apples.

Take your dough out of the fridge and place on a clean surface.  Roll the dough out and form a rectangle of 15 x 14".

 Slice the dough into 6 rectangles.  I used a pizza cutter.

If you haven't yet, core and slice the apples.  Place 3 slices in the center of each rectangle.  Top the apples with 1/2 tsp butter, 1/2 tsp brown sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp allspice.

Then place 3 apple slices on top.  Sprinkle these slices with 1/2 tsp brown sugar.

Then take a corner and fold it to the top of the apple slices.  Take another corner and fold it up.  Do the same with all the corners until the apples are covered.  Pinch the seams and fold in the corners.

Do this with the remaining 5 rectangles.

Preheat your oven to 375F

Prepare a baking dish that will fit the 6 dumplings by spraying it with cooking spray.  Place the dumplings in the dish.  Top them with the syrup and then place them in the oven.

It will take about an hour and 10 minutes to cook.  After 30 minutes, baste the dumplings with the sauce.  You will do this every 10 minutes until the dumplings are cooked.  The dumplings will have a beautiful golden brown color, and the dough will feel solid on top.

Oh, your house will also be smelling so awesome!

When the dumplings have cooked the hour and 10 minutes, let them cool.

Place a dumpling in a bowl.  Top it with vanilla ice cream and drizzle it with the sauce.

Simply heavenly!  A perfect fall or winter dessert.  Okay, a dessert is awesome any time of the year.

This also worked out well reheated.  I heated a dumpling up in the microwave the next day for 1 minute on high power.