What to do tonight ? Make Apple Dumplings of Course....

I like to experiment. With recipes. I will try just about anything I have at least half the ingredients for. Tonight I had a bag of apples sitting on my counter....meant to bait a porcupine, but that is another story for another time. If you ever have a snoring porcupine take up residence under your hunting shack, just email me, I've already done the research for you.

Anyway...Tonight I made Apple Dumplings from a random recipe I found. It required the peeling and coring of 6 medium apples,

Then I made a basic pastry crust, wrapped the apples, and put them in a too big pan. Note: if you are going to attempt to recreate these, you must must must must must use an 9x9 pan. Not a 9x13. The smaller pan will keep the juice juicy. Or something.

Don't be scared of the pastry dough either...it was very easy. Some good parchment paper will help as well. This was the finished product after 35 minutes in the oven at 400*. In the future, I will cover these for the first 20 minutes. Also, I will cook them in a smaller pan to enable the juice to remain juicy. Juicy enough or not, they were awesome and even better with ice cream.

Here is the recipe, complete with my after cooking experience modifications.

Ingredients:

Dough:
2 cups flour
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup milk

Cut together in a mixing bowl until it forms a soft ball. Place 1/2 the ball on a large square of parchment paper, roll out flat, cut each half of the dough into three equal sized squares. 

Peel and core 6 medium apples. Wrap in dough, pinch dough together at the top. Place apples in 9x9 pan. Preheat oven to 450*.

Topping:
3/4 cup honey
3 TBSP butter
1 TBSP shortening
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup brown sugar

Mix all ingredients in a glass bowl. Melt in microwave, stir well. Pour over top of apples. Cover apple pan in tinfoil, do not seal edges of foil. Bake for 20 minutes. Uncover. Bake remaining 15 minutes. Devour.


Linked with : A Bowl Full of Lemons,