Apple dumpling

Pastry wrapped apple
the Australian plant

An apple dumpling is a baked or boiled pastry wrapped apple. To prepare apple dumplings, apples are peeled, cored and sometimes quartered and placed on a portion of dough. The hole from the core may be filled with cinnamon, butter and sugar and sometimes dried fruit such as raisins, sultanas, or currants. The dough is folded over the apples and sealed. Sometimes a spiced sauce is poured over the dumplings which are then baked until tender; the sugar and butter create a sweet sauce. Apple dumplings can be served hot, cold, or room temperature for breakfast, dessert, or as a main dish.

Boiled apple dumplings are among the earliest of fruit puddings. They were eaten "at all social levels". Two recipes for apple dumplings were published in Hannah Glasse's 1747 cookbook. In 1749–1750, when botanist Pehr Kalm traveled from New Jersey to Quebec, he reported having apple dumplings at every meal. or Richard Newton in 1797, shows a woman making apple dumplings, watched by a man, possibly King George III. The 1801 domestic encyclopedia Oeconomische Encyclopädie oder Allgemeines System der Land , Haus und Staats Wirthschaft includes instructions for making Apfelklöße, "small apple dumplings." In 1810 English caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson created a colored etching called Puff Paste which shows a footman and cook cuddling while the cook makes apple dumplings. In 1838 American physician William Alcott in his book of advice for young wives The Young House keeper: Or, Thoughts on Food and Cookery said that "apple dumplings are not very objectionable, except for the crust" as long as no spices were added, but goes on to say, "But why should we have the apple dumpling at all? Few would prepare it, or eat it after it was prepared, were it not for the crust, and above all, for the butter, the sauce, or the sugar added to it; but all of these are objectionable." American cookbook author Eliza Leslie included a recipe for baked apple dumplings in the 1851 edition of her cookbook, in a section called "New Receipts." In 1879 Mark Twain included baked apple dumplings on a list of American foods "unmatched by European hotel cuisine". Apple dumplings were Thomas Edison's favorite food. Louis Hughes, born a black slave in Virginia in 1832, recorded an account of a Fourth of July barbecue for the slaves with roasted pigs and sheep, but apple dumplings and peach cobbler were still the favorites "relished by all the slaves". A young pioneer's diary entry for July 4th, 1859 on Oregon Trail records having apple dumplings for supper that evening. Food historian Bruce Kraig speculated that apple dumplings were popular in the United States because they were "enormously practical in a country where apples grew well and could be dried for year round use, few individually portioned foods were available, and large boiled dinners required the least tending." The earliest recipes refer to boiling, as few homes had ovens, while many later recipes call for baking. sometimes with milk, cream, or ice cream.

In Austria a "large, soft" apple dumpling called apfelnockerln is eaten.

Fruit dumplings, including apple, called ovocné knedlíky, are popular in Czech cuisine and are eaten with quark or tvaroh cheese. They are often served as a complete meal. In one traditional recipe described by George Orwell as "one of the best forms of suet pudding," the cavity left by removal of the core is filled with brown sugar, a suet pastry crust is applied, and the dumpling is tied tightly in cloth and then boiled.

Other fruits, in particular plums, can also be used to make similar dumplings. Czech cuisine includes a dumpling filled with plums, apricots, strawberries or blueberries. Marillenknödel are an Austrian apricot dumpling popular in Graz.

Baked apples are a dish similar to baked apple dumplings but without the pastry shell. Unpeeled apples are cored and stuffed with fillings such as raisins, nuts, oatmeal, or other ingredients and spices. Variants can be served as dessert, side dish or breakfast.