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Apple Dumplings

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desserts•american•vegetarian, contains dairy, contains gluten
2 hours•6 dumplings•

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (300g)
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter – cold, cut into small cubes (for dough)
  • 1/2 cup ice water – ice-cold
  • 6 each apple – peeled and cored
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar (50g)
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 3 tbsp unsalted butter – cut into 6 small pieces (for filling)
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar (165g)
  • 1 cup water
  • 4 tbsp unsalted butter – for syrup
  • 1 each egg – beaten
  • 1 tbsp water – for egg wash
  • vanilla ice cream – for serving
Apple Dumplings

Instructions

  1. 1.

    Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut in 1 cup cold cubed butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with pea-sized bits.

  2. 2.

    Sprinkle in the ice water, tossing with a fork until the dough just holds together when pressed. Gather, divide into 6 equal pieces, flatten into small squares, wrap, and chill 30 minutes.

  3. 3.

    Heat the oven to 375°F. Butter a 9×13-inch baking dish or similar pan.

  4. 4.

    Make the syrup: In a saucepan, combine the brown sugar, 1 cup water, and 4 tbsp butter. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring to dissolve. Simmer 2–3 minutes until slightly thickened; keep warm off heat.

  5. 5.

    Prep the apples: In a small bowl, mix the granulated sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Rub the lemon juice into the cavities of the peeled, cored apples. Fill each cavity with the spiced sugar and top each with one piece of the 3 tbsp butter.

  6. 6.

    Make the egg wash by mixing the beaten egg with 1 tbsp water; set aside.

  7. 7.

    On a lightly floured surface, roll each dough piece into a 7-inch square. Place an apple in the center of each square. Bring the corners up over the apple and pinch along the seams to seal completely.

  8. 8.

    Arrange the wrapped apples seam side up in the prepared baking dish. Brush the pastry with the egg wash.

  9. 9.

    Pour the warm syrup into the pan around the dumplings (not directly on top). Bake until the pastry is deep golden and the apples are tender when pierced with a skewer, 45–55 minutes, basting once or twice with pan syrup.

  10. 10.

    Let the dumplings rest 10 minutes so the syrup thickens slightly. Serve warm, spooning syrup over each, with vanilla ice cream.

Apple Dumplings are a comforting pastry dessert featuring whole apples wrapped in tender pie dough and baked in a buttery sugar syrup. As they cook, the apples soften to a jammy, spoonable center while the pastry turns crisp and bronzed, and the pan syrup reduces into a glossy, cinnamon-scented sauce. The contrast of flaky crust, warm spiced fruit, and rich syrup makes them especially inviting, often finished with a scoop of cold vanilla ice cream.

Historically, apple dumplings trace back to British and Irish traditions where fruit was enclosed in suet or pastry and boiled or steamed. In North America, particularly in the Mid-Atlantic and Appalachian regions, the dish evolved into a baked version using pie dough and a pan syrup, popularized by farmhouse kitchens and community suppers. Pennsylvania Dutch cooks helped entrench the recipe in American baking, and it remains a nostalgic fall dessert closely tied to local orchard culture.