Glazed and flakey as anything.
Nancy Parcell’s kitchen smelled of chili powder and beans, cinnamon sugar and baking apples. Every year she cooked the same things for apple butter day: a thick saucy chili rich with ground meat and choked with elbow macaroni, and her homemade apple dumplings. These apple dumplings were the real event.
Tender baked apples, stuffed with buttery cinnamon sugar, wrapped in a flaky crust, bathed in a spiced apple cider syrup, and crowned with a perfectly scoop of ice cream. The contrast of the soft, tangy apple against the crisp pastry, the warmth of the fragrant syrup mingling with rivulets cold sweet ice cream that puddled at the bottom of my bowl . . . it was autumnal comfort food bliss.
Childhood taste memories are always difficult to recreate. When I was making these apple dumplings, I started with Nancy’s recipe, but made quite a few updates along the way. I modified the her crust, trading shortening for butter and milk for water to create a pastry similar to my favorite pie crust. I also amped up the syrup by using apple cider instead of water, and brought in additional texture with the pecans. But with each change, I was careful to stay true to the ethos of my taste memories. This recipe may be updated, but the nostalgic flavor is all there.
Enjoy!
Apple Dumplings
(Makes 6)
For the pastry:
2 cups (250 g.) all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. Diamond Crystal kosher salt
3/4 cup (170 g; 1 ½ sticks) cold unsalted butter, cubed
6 tbsp. ice cold water
To assemble:
¼ c. pecans, toasted and chopped, plus additional for serving
3 tbsp. granulated sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon, divided
6 medium honeycrisp apples, peeled and cored
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
1 ½ cups apple cider
¾ cup brown sugar
Vanilla ice cream, for serving
Special equipment: rolling pin
Method
For the pastry:
In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt until blended. Add cold cubed butter and rub in until the mixture is the consistency of coarse cornmeal. Using a fork, stir in 6 tablespoons ice water until the dough comes together—it should just hold together in a ball. Pat into a flat disk; cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
To assemble:
Grease a 9” x 13” baking dish with baking spray. In a small bowl, stir together pecans, granulated sugar, and ½ teaspoon cinnamon.
Roll out chilled pastry into a 14”x 21” rectangle. Cut into 7”x 7” squares and place an apple in the center of each. Stuff the center of each apple with a ½ tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon of the pecan sugar mixture (some may spill over the top and that’s okay). Lift the corners of the pastry square to meet on top, enclosing the apple; crimp the edges of the pastry where they meet and fold around the sides of the apples. Arrange in greased baking pan and chill until firm, at least 30 minutes.
While dumplings are chilling, make the syrup by combining apple cider, brown sugar, and remaining 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon in a small pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then turn off the heat and whisk in remaining 3 tablespoons butter until melted. Let cool to room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Remove chilled dumplings from the refrigerator and bake 15 minutes. Spoon syrup over the apples and bake, basting with the syrup every 15 minutes, until pastry is deep golden brown and apples are tender, 30-35 minutes longer. Serve warm, topped with ice cream.
Originally posted October 3, 2022.