Harriette's Apple Dumplings - Ancestors in Aprons

Harriette’s Apple Dumplings

Serves	6
Prep time	20 minutes
Cook time	35 minutes
Total time	55 minutes
Allergy	Milk, Wheat
Meal type	Dessert
Misc	Child Friendly, Freezable, Pre-preparable

Ingredients

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 Cup butter
1/2 Cup milk
4 apples (pare, core, and slice in half or pieces)
1/4lb sugar
1 Teaspoon cinnamon
1 Teaspooon nutmeg or mace
2 tablespoons butter

Directions

1.	Sift or whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
2.	Cut in butter.
3.	Add milk and stir until moistened (Don't over stir).
4.	Roll out 1/4 inch thick and cut into 6"inch squares.
5.	Mix apple slices with sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg to taste.
6.	Pile slices in center of pastry square and dot with butter. Fold pastry corners up around apples and pinch together in center.
7.	Brush pastry with milk and sprinkle with a little sugar.
8.	Place one inch apart in greased baking pan. Bake at 375 degrees 35 minutes, or until nicely browned.

Note

Although I combined recipes from various sources, the fact is that my mother generally used Bisquick to make the crust for the apple dumplings. Dumplings also work with the Perfect Pie Crust recipe, if you have extra on hand.

The number of apples depends on size of apples and how large you want to make your dumplings. I could have made prettier dumplings by not putting so many apple slices in each one. As it was, I had left over apple slices that I scattered in the pan.

Likewise, the amount of sugar depends on the sweetness of the apples.

The Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook suggests making a sugar/water syrup with red food coloring which is poured over before baking. The old Buffalo Evening News Cook Book from the 20s has cooks pour boiling water half way up in the pan, which would result in a soggy dumpling more like the kind in Chicken and Dumplings. Mother's dumplings were crispier than a boiled dumpling, and that's the way we like them.