Tips for Cooking Apple Dumplings, Crisps and Crumbles
Traditional apple dumplings begin with whole apples, which you first peel and core. Next, they are stuffed with cinnamon and sugar, folded into pastry and then drenched with sweet, cinnamon syrup and baked until the apples are soft and the pastry is golden. Some people like to break with tradition and slice their apples first, making a dumpling that is more like a turnover.
A Couple of Common Problems Many Have
The first is getting the apple to cook all the way through before the pastry burns. Eliminate this problem by using smaller apples, and by hollowing out the inside of the apple a bit more than usual. When all else fails, turn down the oven temperature to allow the apples to catch up with the pastry, and loosely cover the dumplings with foil if they start getting too dark.
Another universal dumpling problem is when the filling you stuffed into the apple leaks out all over the place during baking, leaving you with lots of syrupy sauce in the pan and a hollow, empty apple. There are two things you can do to prevent this.
First, when coring the apple, do not go all the way through the bottom. Instead, use a melon baller to dig out the core, and stop about 1/2 inch from the bottom. Then, pack the filling into the apple as tightly as possible. The denser you can make the filling, the less likely it will be to leak out, and the more cinnamon and sugar flavor will seep into the surrounding apple. To make the apple stuffing more substantial, mix in raisins or dried cranberries; pecans or walnuts; and lemon or orange zest. Once you have folded the apples into their pastry squares, add a fun little touch by shaping the leftover dough scraps into leaves. Brush the front and the back with beaten egg, and then arrange one or two on top of each dumpling.
Apple Crisps, Crumbles and Brown Betty's
Crisps, crumbles and brown betties are quick and crowd-pleasing desserts, and they are practically foolproof. You may not have ultimate confidence in your pastry-making prowess, you may be in a hurry, or, just as likely, you are in the mood for something hearty. All of these desserts start with juicy chunks of sliced or diced apples flavored simply with sugar, cinnamon, and maybe a few other warming spices like nutmeg and cloves. To make a crisp or a crumble, all it takes is a mixture of oats, butter, sugar and flour. With this combination, you can have a mouthwatering topping that will turn deep brown and crunchy as the apples get soft and bubbly in the oven.
Apple brown betty is one of the first documented apple desserts in the United States. It grew popular during Colonial times and still enjoys nostalgic popularity, especially in the region where they created the dessert. Some of the brown betty's modern incarnations are more elaborate. The original is about as simple as it gets: the apples are layered with a mixture of fresh bread crumbs, butter and brown sugar, and the concoction is baked just until the apples soften and the crumb topping gets crispy.
Expecting company? Make your crisps, crumbles and brown betties a little fancier by assembling them in individual ramekins or custard dishes instead of one big pan.
