Yum

My mother used to make these a little differently and they were always a hit.  We’ve often had them for brunch on the weekends. Yummy!

I’ve generally stayed away from making them because with having to stuff the fruit inside of the dumplings they were always a huge pain in the butt, there was very little fruit and often they opened when I boiled them.  You couldn’t use frozen fruit because it would keep the inside of the dough so cold that it would be difficult to cook them evenly.  My mother and many folks in the Czech Republic have since begun to make these without putting the fruit  inside and instead just pouring fruit on the top, as in my instructions.  This way you get far more fruit and have much less hassle making the dumplings.

My kids ask for these all the time.  Now that I don’t bother to try to make them with the fruit inside each one, I’m making them more often.  I’ve also made these with whole-wheat flour to attempt to get more whole grains in our diet and if you are also going to do that then just make the dough a little softer by adding either more milk or a little less flour.

Makes approximately 20 dumplings.

Dumplings

• 3 Cups White Flour (2 ½ Cups Whole Wheat Flour)
• 1 ½ Cups Milk
• 1 Egg
• 2 Teaspoons Yeast
• 1 ½ Teaspoons Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon Salt

Toppings

• Cottage Cheese
• Fruit of choice
• Melted Butter
• Sugar

First warm the milk so that it feels slightly hot to your finger, pour half the milk into a bowl and add the yeast and sugar.  Mix the egg in with the rest of the milk.  Put the flour into a mixer with a dough hook and add the yeast mixture when after it has had 5-10 minutes to bubble.  Pour it into the middle of the flour in the bowl and start the mixer slowly so that it forms a small ball of dough in the middle. Add the rest of the milk and egg mixture and keep adding until you have nice soft dough that pulls from the side of the bowl just slightly.

Take the dough and cover and let rise for 15- 25 min or until double in size, I will often turn the oven on for a couple of minutes then turn it off and put the covered bowl of dough in the over to warm and rise.

Once the dough has doubled in size then you can put one or two large pots of water on the stove to boil.  Make sure you have lids available for both of them.  Scoop about 2 tablespoons worth of dough forming and kneading into a small ball.  Mine are typically the size of ping-pong balls at this point; they will grow in size dramatically when boiled.  Once you have the water boiling then drop several of these dough balls into the water and cover.  They should cook for about 1 ½ to 2 minutes per side, halfway through the time roll them over finish cooling uncovered.  They should have a nice bread consistency inside when cut open and be soft to the touch, if they are hard they have been over boiled, which can be easy to do depending on how big you actually make them.

The toppings listed are traditionally ALL served with the dumpling.  First the cottage cheese, then fruit that has been cooked and mixed with a little cornstarch to provide a thick sauce, then… I’m not kidding… pour some melted butter and lastly sprinkle some sugar on top.