Apple Dumplings (Pg. 688) Pies and Pastries

The opening paragraph says this is, "hands down, one of our favorite recipes in this entire book."  With that introduction I launched into what was expected to be something extraordinary.  Unfortunately, I would classify this as good, not great.

My Assistant Peeled the Apples

The idea is simple enough. Make a pastry dough, wrap it around apples and pour the syrup over it and bake.

I already had pastry dough in the fridge, one of the joys of being home, I can make pastry dough ahead. However, I suspect in normal times most of us don't have a batch of pastry dough at the ready. Obviously, you can use pre-made store bought, but those are never as good.

The Filling

I'm pretty adept at rolling out pastry dough into a near circle for pie, but rolling dough into rectangles turns out not to be that easy.  They recommend rolling out one big rectangle and cutting it into smaller rectangles to wrap your apples.  After trying to make a large rectangle, that could be cut into four uniform smaller rectangles, I realized it is much easier to divide your dough into the number of apples you have and roll each one individually into rectangles.  

Another complication comes in the size of the apples.  The size they describe as small apples are smaller than any apple I've seen commercially available. I used what I consider smaller apples, and they were still larger than even what they consider a large apple.  You will definitely want to cut your apples in half. I left two of the apples whole and halved the third one, making four portions out of three apples.  When wrapping the dough, I found it hard to get a nice finished look on the top where it all comes together and the half apples were not attractive at all. Sorry, no pictures of the ugly halves.

The Syrup with Lemon Slices

If you are successful in getting the dough rolled into even rectangles and wrapped around the apples, the rest of this is very easy.  The syrup recipe is very simple and I have to say, tastes amazing. The addition of the lemon slices is the key.  Do not skip the lemon slices and try to substitute lemon juice instead, it won't be as good. It seems strange to put entire lemon slices into the syrup, but once you taste the final result you will understand why it is important.

Because my apples were larger, the baking time took longer, but that didn't really seem to cause any problems.  You want to bake them until the apples are soft and you can stick a toothpick into them without resistance.  You don't want crunchy apples.  

Basting these while they bake is not easy, but is definitely worth doing.  Also, go easy on the initial pour of syrup over the dumplings. You don't want too much liquid in the bottom to start. But, do try to use as much of the syrup as you can, since it is the best part.

The Finished Product: Not Pretty

In terms of ingredients this is pretty simple, but technique is one of the more difficult things I've made in the book.  A second try would probably be much better, now that I've made all the rookie mistakes.

It does taste pretty amazing, and is really good with ice cream.  But, honestly, an apple pie is nearly the same and probably easier to make.

I would give this a 3/5. Make an apple pie and call it a day.
Julie only had a bite, and gave it a 4/5.
Ed ate it without complaint, so I would say 4/5.