My grandma died long before I was born. Actually, she died long before my mom and dad were married. Grandma was born in Kentucky at the beginning of the Civil War. I grew up hearing all kinds of fun stories about my dad’s childhood. His favorite dessert were the apple dumplings his mom made. The problem was – no one had Grandma Mattie’s recipe. So Mom started her years long search for just the right apple dumplings. She never made them quite like Grandma Mattie – but Daddy decided that the following recipe was the closest. The best part about the search was… we got to eat a lot of old fashioned southern apple dumplings!
Ingredients:
- 6 medium Granny Smith apples
- 1 – 1/2 cups sugar
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 – 3/4 tsp cinnamon
- 2 packages refrigerated pie crust (or make your own)
Roll pastry into rectangle (if making your own) to 1/8 inch thick . Cut into six squares. Peel and core apples.
Bring 1 cup sugar, 2 cups water, 3 Tbls butter and 1/4 tsp cinnamon to boil. Mix remaining sugar and cinnamon, place cored apples on pastry square. Evenly fill apples with cinnamon sugar mixture and dot with remaining butter. Encase each apple in pastry square, moisten with water to seal. Optional: cut out leaf pattern from remaining pastry and use a knife to score a line and cross with horizontal scores to resemble leaves. Place a few inches apart in casserole baking dish. Pour hot syrup around dumplings. Bake at 425 degrees for 40 minutes on middle rack in oven. Mine were completely done after 30 minutes so watch closely.
Serve warm with cream, whipped cream or ice cream. These will be very sweet so be careful not to add too much sugar to your whipped cream.
These are so yummy on a cold fall evening. They were really easy to make and trust me… I’m not a fancy baker but these were a fun treat to make!
With the apple harvest here, there are all kinds of recipes. This just happens to be a childhood favorite of mine! What are some of your special apple treats? I’d love to hear!
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