Apple Dumplings

The seasons are changing here in the Midwest, I always have trouble with the in between seasons, one day I want to make something light and summery like chilled asparagus with a citrus vinaigrette the next I want to roast root vegetables in a balsamic glaze.  Last week it was cool all week we went from running the air conditioner early in the week to turning the heat on in the middle of the night on Wednesday.  I got my mind set on a slow brazed dinner cooked for several hours followed by Apple Dumplings.  Of course the weather was absolutely beautiful this weekend; Sunday was sunny and 80 degrees.  Being stubborn I stuck with it... the house was a little warm when I finished, but smelled WONDERFUL, the meal started with slow cooked brisket and ended with my first attempt at apple dumplings.  I made three... that is one for me, one for Kris and one for the kiddos to look at.*

Apple dumplings are today's post, the ingredients:

for the dough:

1 Cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 TBS of granulated sugar

pinch of salt

3 TBS butter cut into small bits

1/4 cup milk

for the filling:

2 small Granny Smith apples peeled, cored and diced

1 lunch box pack of raisins (you know the little 1.5 oz boxes that your mom made you eat)

1/4 cup toasted bread crumbs

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 TBS butter melted

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425

For the dough, sift the first 4 ingredients together.  Then add the butter I like to use my fingers to work it together until you get the texture of course meal (or the look of wet sand).  then add the milk and mix with a fork until moistened.  Turn out dough onto a floured surface and kneed a few times until just mixed (this is a biscuit dough if you over work it you will have a tough crust).  Then roll it out, I rolled mine into a long flat thing so I could cut it into 5 or 6 inch squares.

To make the dumplings, mix the filling together then divide among the squares.  Pull the four corners of each square up and pinch then seal the edges.  Transfer to your baking pan then brush the tops with milk and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Bake these guys for about 25 minutes.

*The kiddos look at any new recipe with distrust... this is actually adapted from a recipe for 6 but I knew that there was no way I was going to use 6 of them.  In fact the one that the kids looked at then ignored I had for breakfast the next day.