English Dumplings, Steamed and Baked Apple Dumplings

Steamed or baked fruit dumplings filled with sugared and spiced apples make a nice holiday dessert for modern times. They also made nice desserts in the early 1900’s. The Royal Baker and Pastry Cook from 1911 had many dumplings listed. This one uses suet and the dumplings are tied with a cloth before being steamed.

English Dumplings

1 pint flour, 1 cup finely chopped suet, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon…baking powder. Mix and sift flour, salt, and baking powder. Add suet; mix to firm dough with ice-water. Knead for 2 minutes; roll out 1/2 inch thick. Put a floured cloth over a bowl; on it spread the crust. Fill with sliced apples mixed with sugar and a little powdered cinnamon. Draw up crust and cloth, allowing a little room to swell. Drop in kettle of rapidly boiling water, with trivet at bottom to prevent scorching. Keep at a rapid boil for 2 hours. If water stops boiling the dumpling will be heavy. Or place in steamer and steam 3 hours. /serve hot with cream and sugar or a liquid sauce.

Desserts, from 1912, calls for paring tart apples and seasoning with cinnamon.

Steamed Apple Dumplings

Pare and core tart cooking apples. Envelop each in a layer of biscuit dough rolled as thin as possible. Place the dumplings in a baking pan, and sprinkle them plentifully with cinnamon and bits of butter. Half cover them with water and sugar to make a syrup. Steam for thirty minutes. Serve with hard sauce and plain cream.

Richard Pauls’ Pastry Book, from 1907, has a whole apple dumpling recipe. This dumpling is baked rather than being steamed or boiled.

Baked Apple Dumpling

Take [dumpling paste], roll out thin and cut in squares large enough to fold one apple in. Wash the squares with water; put one apple, peeled and cored, on each square. Fill the core with sugar flavored cinnamon, put on a small pat of butter, fold the paste over the apple, egg wash, and bake in a good heat. Serve with any suitable sauce.