260/365: National Apple Dumpling Day

We’re going to have to gang up on you if you don’t help us celebrate today’s food challenge. September 17 is National Apple Dumpling Day!

Whenever I think of apple dumplings, my thought automatically turn to The Apple Dumpling Gang, a 1975 movie starring Bill Bixby, Don Knotts, and Tim Conway. I don’t remember much about it, other than the fact that it features stagecoaches, gold, and orphans.

The original Apple Dumpling Gang.

Apple dumplings aren’t traditional “dumplings” in the sense that they aren’t boiled – though apparently, the original recipe for apple dumplings (credited to Susannah Carter) actually did call for boiling. Apple dumplings are a Northeastern U.S. invention closely associated with the Amish, which means in order to properly enjoy them, they should be consumed by the light of a kerosene lamp. Apples are peeled and cored and placed on a portion of dough. The hollowed-out center is then filled with butter, cinnamon, and sugar, and the pastry is sealed. They are then baked until tender. This sounded both tasty and intriguing, so we decided to go ahead and make our own using this recipe from allrecipes.com.

The result? Well, they were a little overcooked. The apple inside the pastry was delicious, but the sauce caramelized and was too hard to really enjoy. I think with a little less baking time, these would have been really good.

Related articles

• Hot Apple Dumplings (hillbillysrecipes.wordpress.com)
• Country Apple Dumplings (thegreentypewriter.wordpress.com)
• Snack Like A Member of the ‘Amish Mafia’ (947freshfm.cbslocal.com)