Old Fashioned Apple Dumplings

Name: Old Fashioned Apple Dumplings
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 65 min
Total time: 90 min
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 3/4 cup brown sugar; 1/2 cup butter; 6 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored; 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 3 cups water; 2 cups white sugar; pastry dough for 6 squares (24x16 inch sheet)

Recipe GLPRa7d6758150bf5c

Dessert

90 min

599 cal

Servings: 6

Oven

SNAP eligible

Tender Granny Smith apples wrapped in pastry and baked in a sweet vanilla sauce. Each dumpling is filled with butter, brown sugar, and warm spices, creating a comforting dessert that's perfect on its own or served with ice cream.

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Ingredients

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

6 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups water

2 cups white sugar

pastry dough for 6 squares (24x16 inch sheet)

Directions

Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish with butter. On a floured work surface, roll out pastry dough into a large rectangle approximately 24 by 16 inches. Cut the pastry into 6 equal squares.
Place one peeled and cored apple in the center of each pastry square, with the cored opening facing upward.
Divide the 1/2 cup butter into 8 small pieces. Place one piece of butter in the opening of each apple, and reserve the remaining pieces for the sauce.
Distribute the brown sugar between the apples, filling some inside each cored opening and sprinkling the rest around the base of each apple.
Sprinkle the ground cinnamon and nutmeg evenly over the apples.
Using slightly damp fingertips, fold one corner of the pastry square up and over the apple to the top, then bring the opposite corner up and press together. Repeat with the two remaining corners, then gently pinch and seal the dough at the sides to completely enclose the apple. Repeat with the remaining apples.
Transfer the wrapped apples to the prepared baking dish, seam side up.
In a saucepan, combine the water, white sugar, vanilla extract, and the reserved 2 butter pieces. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil. Allow to boil for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is completely dissolved.
Carefully pour the hot sauce around the dumplings in the baking dish (not over them).
Bake in the preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown and the sauce is bubbling around the edges.

Comments

Grocery List Plus Editorial Staff4

This is a solid weeknight-friendly dessert with ingredients stocked at any Charlotte grocer—Granny Smith apples, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla are staples everywhere from Food Lion to Walmart. The stated 90 minutes is honest if you use store-bought pastry dough; it stretches closer to two hours if you make it from scratch, which the recipe doesn't specify. At roughly two dollars per serving, it's reasonable for a home dessert, though bulk of the cost is butter and apples. The main limitation is that it doesn't reheat well—dumplings are best the same night they come out of the oven, and leftovers lose their crispy-tender texture by morning.