Farmhouse Apple Dumplings Recipe — Chadwick Boyd (2024)

My Favorite Fall Family Dish Sparks All Kinds of Memories (& Cravings!)

These farmhouse apple dumplings are what I think about when fall comes around. I wrote about these and other fall food memories in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

When I was a boy, every fall we'd get a phone call from my great-grandmother to head over to the family farm for dinner. It was a call we eagerly awaited because it meant that Mommom had just put her famous apple dumplings into the oven. The apples would soften while baking and the cinnamon syrup would form a crispy glaze over the tender pastry. Mommom would spoon the large dumplings at the table into large soup bowls, and then we would pour cold whole milk over them right before we dug in. I continue Mommom's apple dumpling tradition, though I have update her recipe with whole, natural ingredients. Mommom was a woman of the '30s and '40s, so she used margarine and Bisquick. I prefer butter and make my pastry from scratch.

Chadwick’s Checklist

What you need to know before you cook.

• Pastry can be made several days in advance.
• Have a clean countertop dusted with flour and a rolling pin for preparing your pastry.
• Try to buy apples that are roughly the same size so they bake evenly.
• Butter a 9”x13” baking dish to fit all the apples.
• Dumplings will need to refrigerate for 25 minutes before baking.

SERVING SIZE: 6 Lg or 8 Med Dumplings PREP TIME: 30 mins COOKING TIME: 60 mins

Ingredients

For the dumplings

• 1 tablespoon salted butter

• ½ cup granulated sugar

• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• 2 cups granulated sugar

• 1½ cups water

• 2 tablespoons salted butter

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 3 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon sea salt

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

• 1½ sticks very cold salted butter

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• ⅔ cup chilled whole milk, plus more for serving

• 6 7-8 ounce Cosmic Crisp or Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored

Directions

1. Butter a 9-inch by 13-inch baking dish. Mix together the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Set both aside.

2. In a medium sauce pan over high heat, add the sugar, water and butter and bring to a slow boil, about 7-8 minutes. Stir in the cinnamon and take off the heat. Let cool.

3. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Drop the sticks of butter in the bowl, roll to coat, then grate on a box grater. With your fingers, loosely mix the butter and dry ingredients to bring together. Pour in the milk. Using a sturdy rubber scraper, bring the dough together. Place the dough on a sheet of plastic wrap and press into a 1½-inch disc. Wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes to one hour.

4. Preheat the oven to 375°F with the rack in the center.

5. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and cut into six equal parts. Roll in your hands to form balls. Lightly flour a clean surface and a rolling pin and roll out each ball to almost ⅛-inch thick circle, about 8 inches in diameter. Dust with more flour as needed while rolling.

6. Place an apple in the center of each piece of dough. Sprinkle one tablespoon of the cinnamon sugar in the core and around the apple. Carefully bring the dough to the top of the apple and fold around to enclose. Wrap your hands around the dough to keep it together. Press the dough at the top to seal. Use a bit of cold water, if needed, to fully seal.

7. Place the dumplings in the baking dish. Make sure they don’t touch each other or the sides of the dish.

8. Ladle some of the syrup over the dumplings. Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar evenly over the dumplings. Place in the oven and bake 40-45 minutes or until the dumplings are golden brown and the apples are cooked through when tested with a knife. Baste with more syrup every 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest 5-10 minutes.

9. Serve the dumplings in bowls, spooning the remaining syrup on top. Pour the cold milk over top to finish.

Chadwick’s Changeups

Switch things up. Have some fun! Do more.

• Stir in some Chinese Five Spice for a more sophisticated twist.
• Maple syrup or sorghum are nice additions to the syrup.