FARMHOUSE APPLE DUMPLINGS

Every October, I continue my great-grandmother’s apple dumpling tradition, though I have updated her recipe a bit. Mommom was a woman of the 1930s and 1940s, so margarine and Bisquick were among the ingredients. Salted butter makes these supper dumplings more tender, and the scratch dough comes together in minutes. Sometimes I don’t peel the apples, which adds a nice peek of color.

3 tablespoons salted butter at

room temperature, divided

2 ½ cups plus 2 tablespoons

granulated sugar, divided 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon,

divided

1 ½ cups water

3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more

for dusting

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 ½ sticks very cold salted butter ⅔ cup chilled whole milk, plus more

for serving

6 (7-8 ounce) Cosmic Crisp or Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored

Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with 1 tablespoon room-temperature butter. Mix together 1/2 cup sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon in a small bowl. Set both aside.

In a medium saucepan over high heat, add 2 cups sugar, the water and remaining 2 tablespoons roomtemperature butter and bring to a slow boil, about 7-8 minutes. Stir in remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon and remove from the heat. Let cool.

Whisk together 3 cups flour, the salt, baking powder and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in a large mixing bowl. Drop the sticks of butter in the bowl, roll to coat, then grate on a box grater. With your fingers, loosely mix the butter and dry ingredients to bring together. Pour in 2/3 cup milk. Using a sturdy rubber scraper, bring the dough together. Place the dough on a sheet of plastic wrap and press into a 1 1/2-inch disc. Wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Heat the oven to 375 degrees with a rack placed in the center position.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and cut into 6 equal parts. Roll in your hands to form balls. Lightly flour a clean surface and a rolling pin and roll out each ball to almost 1/8-inch-thick circle, about 8 inches in diameter. Dust with more flour as needed while rolling.

Place an apple in the center of each piece of dough. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the cinnamon sugar in the core and around the apple. Carefully bring the dough to the top of the apple and fold around to enclose. Wrap your hands around the dough to keep it together. Press the dough at the top to seal. Use a bit of cold water, if needed, to fully seal.

Place the dumplings in the baking dish. Make sure they don’t touch each other or the sides of the dish.

Ladle some of the syrup over the dumplings. Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar evenly over the dumplings. Place in the oven and bake 40-45 minutes or until the dumplings are golden brown and the apples are cooked through when tested with a knife. While the dumplings are in the oven, baste with more syrup every 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest 5-10 minutes.

Serve the dumplings in bowls, spooning the remaining syrup on top. Pour about 1/2 cup cold milk over each serving.

Makes 6 dumplings.

Per serving: 964 calories (percent of calories from fat, 28), 9 grams protein, 167 grams carbohydrates, 8 grams fiber, 31 grams total fat (19 grams saturated), 79 milligrams cholesterol, 745 milligrams sodium.