Apples, fall’s bountiful fruit, transformed into a delicious, ingenuous dessert

As the leaves begin to change and the air becomes crisp, apples overflow from the kitchen fruit bowls. Whether a family has picked their own from a local orchard or purchased from your favorite store, apples in every variety are delicious. With so many apples available, families can become bored with a plain, simple apple. What can a family do to keep those apples from going to waste?

Creating an apple dessert can be an easy task. While the Instagram worth apple tarts with the home-made pastry dough are mouth-watering, these dishes may be beyond the comfort level for the home chef. A few modifications can have any home chef creating Instagram worthy dishes without a flour-filled mess covering the pristine kitchen.

An apple dumpling is a scrumptious dessert that even the most novice baker can master. Recently, Chef Reed of the Intercontinental Chicago Magnificent Mile shared his apple dumpling dessert recipe.

Apple Dumplings

Chef Reed shared a pie dough recipe. Store bought dough may be substituted too.

Pie Dough:

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 2 ½ cups cake flour
• ¼ cup milk
• 2 yolks
• 2 tsp kosher salt

Method:

Sift cake flour into bowl of stand mixer. Add salt. Cut butter into cubes and add to flour. Chill bowl and paddle attachment in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Once chilled, mix flour and butter in mixer until butter is broken into pea-sized balls. (if a stand mixer is available, cut flour into butter manually with a pastry blender or fork). Add milk and yolks and pulse to combine. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate a minimum of 2 hours or overnight. Roll pie dough to ¼ inch think. Cut into six (6) 4” x 4” and chill.

Dumplings: 

Ingredients

• 3 large baking apples (Granny Smith, Breaburn, Gala, or personal favorite apple.)
• ¾ cup light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 egg, whisked

Method:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Peel, core, and slice apples in half. Mix brown sugar and spices. Rub apples with sugar mixture. Fill cores with a knob of butter. Brush pie dough squares with whisked egg. Top with apple, core side down. Bring 2 opposite corners of dough up over apple and press corners together. Fold in sides of remaining corners, bring corners up over the apple and press together. Place dumplings on a parchment lined sheet tray. Brush entire pastry with egg. Bake at 300 degrees for 25 minutes. Raise over to 350 degrees and bake an additional 10 minutes until golden brown. Recipes makes 6 dumplings.

To finish the Apple Dumplings, a variety of toppings can be used. A simple scoop of vanilla ice cream offers a delightful result. For more impressive desserts, top the apple dumpling with homemade caramel, a scoop of crumble or candied nuts. Personal preference should guide how the dessert is finished.