Chef John's Apple Dumplings

12 Ratings
  • 5 7
  • 4 2
  • 3 2
  • 2 1
  • 1 0

This is one of America's oldest desserts. The flavor profile is almost identical to an apple pie, but instead of having a bunch of slices about, we have one beautifully roasted, tender, sweet apple inside--which while still covered in the same crust we use for a pie, is far superior because we basted and baked it with a sugar sauce. I highly recommend these get served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

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Recipe Summary

prep:
30 mins
cook:
1 hr
total:
1 hr 30 mins
Servings:
8
Yield:
4 dumplings
Nutrition Info
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Ingredients

8
Original recipe yields 8 servings
The ingredient list now reflects the servings specified
For the Sauce:
For the Apples:

Directions

  • Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Butter a baking dish.

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  • Combine brown sugar, 3 tablespoons butter, and water in a small pot over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, and boil until all sugar is dissolved. Turn off heat and swirl pot gently to combine. Reserve sauce until needed.

  • Stir sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Core the unpeeled apples.

  • Divide pie dough into 4 portions. Roll out on a lightly floured surface into 4 circles about 1/8-inch thick and 7 inches in diameter, or large enough to fully wrap an apple.

  • Place apples in the center of each round of dough. Spoon about 3 teaspoons of cinnamon sugar into the apple cores; fill each hole with a teaspoon of butter.

  • Wrap each apple up in pie dough, sealing the dough together at the top. Be careful not to pull and stretch it too tightly around the apple as you wrap, or it might break apart when it bakes; brush lightly with water if dough won't stick together. Even out the top and trim off any excess; shape into decorative leaves if desired.

  • Place wrapped apples seam-side up into the buttered baking dish. Ladle some sauce over each to cover completely.

  • Bake in the preheated oven, basting with sauce occasionally, until pastry is browned and cooked through and apples are tender, 50 to 60 minutes. Remove from the oven and baste with more sauce. Serve warm.

Tips

Chef's Notes:

I used a full one-pound batch of my Buttercrust Pastry Dough for this recipe.

Granny Smith apples also work beautifully.

You can use any excess dough that has been trimmed from the tops to form decorations. Roll dough out nice and thin; use a knife to cut out leaf shapes. Use the edge of the knife to make an indention in the center of the leaves; make diagonal lines to form leaf lines. Place leaves on the tops of the dumplings before they're baked.

Nutrition Facts

Per Serving:
545 calories; protein 3.7g; carbohydrates 78.1g; fat 25.4g; cholesterol 18.2mg; sodium 349.7mg. Full Nutrition
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