Since arriving at Beekman Farm, we’ve found that many of the rural aphorisms are true.

Life IS like a bowl of cherries.

You DO have to make hay while the sun shines.

And one rotten apple CAN spoil the whole bunch.

We try to be very careful at the end of each autumn when we put the remnant of the apple harvest into the root cellar. We like to have apples from the farm to eat throughout the winter.  But even at our most diligent, by the closing weeks of the season, the apples at the bottom of the barrel are starting to feel a little soft.

This simple apple dumpling recipe will please everyone.  Note:  we make this recipe only once each year.  Even on the farm we know that bathing suit season is just around the corner.

The other thing we love about this recipe is that you can use your own creativity to make it your own.    Use as your “stuffing” anything you have in your cabinet.  The ingredient list below is what we tend to use.

Apple Dumplings

Ingredients

Apple varieties of your choice, peeled

FOR CRUST

2 C flour
2 sticks of unsalted butter (plus 1/3 stick for filling)
Fistful of sugar
Dash of salt
up to 2/3 cup of milk, over ice

for our easy-as-pie crust preparation, check here

FOR FILLING (we suggest)

Walnuts, Pecans, Cinnamon, Brown Sugar, Unsalted Butter, Caramel Candy Cubes, Golden Raisins, Dark Raisins, Dried Cranberries

Instructions

1. Prepare your crust, cut into squares or circles that are about 10 inches in diameter or 10 inches on the diagonal and place in the refrigerator and allow to chill until you are ready to use them in step 3

2.  Using an apple corer, cut out the center of the apple.

3.  Butter the bottoms and sides of a deep baking dish.  Working one dumpling at a time,  place your pre-cut dough in the dish.  In the center of the dough, place your apple.  Fill the center of the apple with butter, caramel and your other ingredients of choice.  We also throw a few extra nuts and raisins on the outside of the apple at the base

4.  Bring all of the edges of the dough up to the center top of the apple and twist and pat to close completely

5.  Sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar

6.  Continue until desired number of dumplings are made

7.  Place into oven at 450 degrees and bake until crust is golden brown (about 45 minutes)

Now, how about them apples?