Monday, September 26, 2016

Apple Dumplings with Caramel Sauce

Jan here, with a bit of a hodge-podge post. But don't worry! We'll get to the apple dumplings!


First of all, don't miss the fun over on the Amish Wisdom blog! Mattie's Pledge is part of a fourteen book giveaway!

And next....


...Autumn has arrived in the Black Hills in all her glory!

On Saturday we explored a part of the Black Hills we've rarely visited. Formally, the area is called the "Central Hills," but people generally say, "We went up by Mystic today." Or, "We went hiking west of Rochford." Or, "We went camping up by Castle Creek."

But whatever we call it, the area is beautiful. It was also one of the earliest settled areas of the Black Hills (1876), which means that gold was found there.


At one time, gold drove everything in the Black Hills. But today we're lured there by the golden leaves of the aspens.


And now, finally! We get to the apple dumplings! We bought some apples and pears over the weekend. I'll tackle the pears another week (if there are any left!), and share one of my favorite apple delicacies with you.

Apple Dumplings with Caramel Sauce

Don't let the caramel sauce part of the name scare you - it practically makes itself!

For each dumpling, you need:

1/2 apple (any kind, but Macintosh or Golden Delicious bake well)
Pastry - more on this below
1 generous teaspoon butter
2 Tablespoons - heaping - brown sugar
a sprinkle of ground cloves
4 or 5 dashes...or more...ground cinnamon



Pastry:
I used Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry sheets.


I try to keep a box of these in my freezer for last minute baking urges.

But for this recipe, you can also use pie crust or biscuit dough.

Assembly:

Thaw the puff pastry sheet according to the package directions. Then cut the sheet into four squares. Roll one square out until it's about 7" x 7".



Cut an apple in half and remove the core.


Place one half in the center of your pastry square and pile on the butter, brown sugar, cloves, and cinnamon.


Don't worry if the goodies spill onto the pastry!


Bring the corners of the pastry together at the top and give them a nice twist to hold them there. You can fold the edges together to close them, but don't worry about sealing them. As the dumplings bake, you want the delicious butter/sugar/spice/apple juice to drip into the pan and make your caramel sauce. :)


Place the dumplings in a greased baking dish and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake at 350° for about an hour, or until the apple is baked through.


To serve, put the hot dumplings in bowls and top with the caramel sauce in the baking dish. A scoop of vanilla ice cream would be great on top if you have it!

And I guarantee that your kitchen will smell delicious!





Jan Drexler loves her family, her home, cooking and just about anything made by hand. But she loves her Lord most of all.



Stop by Jan's website to learn more about her books: www.JanDrexler.com

13 comments:

  1. WOW! I'm making this for guests on Wednesday. How fancy looking!

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    1. Very fancy and SO EASY!

      They'll think you slaved over this dessert. :)

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  2. I have puff pastry in the freezer... and pie crust, too. I am totally doing this! Oh my stars, I want apple everything right now!

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    1. Forget pumpkin spice. Give me apples and cinnamon any day!

      And I'm trying to forget that one of these is in the refrigerator right now. I keep telling myself I'm saving it for my husband...but the will power is getting weak...

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    2. There is something so amazing about fall and spiced things... I picked up a half-bushel of apples and a jug of cider today... and made homemade applesauce for supper. It's just so perfect!!!!

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    3. Homemade applesauce for supper! Thanks for the reminder! That will be great with tonight's stroganoff. :)

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  3. Oh, wow! I'm drooling! LOL I love anything that turns to caramel. In fact, my family cringes because I can actually eat a big spoonful of brown sugar straight out of the bag. LOL So this sounds delicious to me!

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    Replies
    1. Brown sugar...yum!

      Yes, you'll love this one! Be sure not to skimp on the brown sugar!

      Delete
  4. I love apple anything this time of year. I've never used puff pastry before so I'll have to run out and get some. A supermarket chain has their own brand version of this and they sell the apple dumplings for $6.00 for 2 of them. This has got to be way cheaper.

    If I made it from pie pastry (I need to use spelt flour for my daughter) would I just roll the pastry out thinner than I would for a regular pie? I'm thinking this would be a lovely dessert for Thanksgiving...which is only two weeks away up here.

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    Replies
    1. You can definitely try this with the spelt flour pastry. And yes, just roll it out a little thinner - you only need it thick enough that it doesn't tear when you wrap it around the apple.

      Happy pre-Thanksgiving!

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    2. Kav, I actually like pie crust better for a recipe like this because once you roll puff pastry to a thinner thickness, it doesn't "puff" the same way... so I save that for the strudels and I'm going to use pie crust for this.

      You and I can compare notes!!!

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  5. Oh this looks delicious, Jan. I'm with you. Pumpkin's okay, but apples, cinnamon - oh yes, that's autumn!

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    Replies
    1. Yes! Apples! The rest of the box is in my kitchen, and the aroma is heavenly. :)

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