I wanted to post my first recipe in honor of woman who gave it to me, my mom. She doesn’t cook fancy but we always ate good! I know there are many versions of this recipe, but this is the one she always made and they are, by far, the best apple dumplings I’ve ever had. These bake up fluffy, almost like pastry, rather than the pie crust type dough usually seen in apple dumplings. They are more work than the crescent roll type but they are definitely worth it!
The list of ingredients is fairly simple; six apples, sugar, water, cinnamon, nutmeg, butter, flour, baking powder, salt, milk and more butter. (You’ll notice I use a lot of Aldi and other store brands. Have I mentioned that I’m one of Clark Howard’s biggest fans?)
First, peel, core and coarsely chop 6 apples, whatever variety you like will work. Golden delicious are great for baking but Gala apples were on sale this week so Gala it is!
Then, mix the water, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small saucepan and bring to a gentle boil, stirring occasionally. If you want your dumplings to be a little 
pinker you can also add a few drops of red food coloring but I didn’t have any on hand so I skipped this step. When the mixture starts to thicken drop in the three tablespoons of butter and set aside without stirring.
While the syrup is cooling, sift the flour, salt and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Cut in 2/3 cups of butter until crumbly, then pour in the milk, all at once 
and stir til moistened. The dough will be sticky, but, let not your heart be troubled, it’s supposed to be! Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough and roll it out into a rectangle, like so. Well,… a sort of,… if you look at it in the right light, kinda rectangle.
This is where is gets messy. Cut the dough into six fairly
even sections, but don’t worry about being too exact. This type of dough is exceptionally forgiving, trust me. You can play with it, stretch it and stick it as much as needed to get it the way you want.
Take even amounts of the chopped apples and load them onto the dough. It doesn’t have to perfect, I just take spoonfuls. Sprinkle the apples with cinnamon and a little sugar to make them scrumptious inside and out!
Here’s where it gets messy, again! Lightly flour a spatula and gently lift the edges of the dough. Then, as I said earlier, pull, stretch, stick and do whatever else necessary until you have six little apple 
packages. Don’t worry if they’re not completely covered, the dough will take care of that when it puffs up while baking.
Pour the syrup over the dumplings, trying to coat each one and bake for 35 minutes in a 375 degree oven.
Allow to cool for just a few minutes
before serving. They need to be warm enough to melt the ice cream a little bit! Enjoy!
Mom’s Apple Dumplings
1 ½ cups sugar
1 ½ cups water
¼ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. nutmeg
6 to 10 drops red food coloring (optional)
3 Tbsp. butter
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2/3 cup butter or shortening
½ cup milk
6 apples
Mix sugar, water, cinnamon, nutmeg and food coloring in a small saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil until the mixture starts to thicken, stirring occasionally. Peel, core, and chop apples into bite size chunks. Remove from heat, add 3 Tbsp. butter. Do not stir. Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. Cut in butter until crumbly. Pour in milk all at once and mix until moist. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface, roll into a rectangle. Cut dough into six even sections. Divide apples evenly and wrap with cut dough sections. Place dumplings into a greased 9 x 13 baking dish. Stir syrup and pour evenly over dumplings. Bake for 35 minutes in a 375o oven. Allow to cool. Enjoy!
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