[783.] Baked Apple Dumplings (with Baking Powder).—2 cups flour, 1 teaspoonful baking powder, ½ cup water or milk, ½ cup butter or lard and ¼ teaspoonful salt; sift flour, salt and baking powder into a bowl, put in the butter and chop it fine; then mix the whole into a soft dough; roll it out ⅛ of an inch in thickness and cut it into squares; put a tart apple, pared and cored, onto each square and put into each apple a small piece of butter and a little sugar; bring the 4 corners of paste together on top of the apple, fasten them with a little white of egg, put in a long, shallow pan and set in a medium hot oven to bake till done; serve with hard or wine sauce; if the oven is too hot cover them with paper. To ascertain when dumplings are done thrust a knitting needle into them. If it penetrates through the apples easily they are done; if not, the baking must be continued until they are done.
[784.] Apple Dumplings (bain-Marie).— 1 pound flour, 1 teaspoonful baking powder, ½ teaspoonful salt, 1 cup cream or milk and ¾ cup butter; sift flour, salt and powder into a bowl, add the milk and mix it into a paste; roll it out on a floured board into a square piece about 1½ inches in thickness; form the butter into a square piece and lay it in the center of paste; fold the paste over it, first from the right and left side, then from you and towards you; put it on a tin plate and set in a cool place for ½ hour; next roll it out 3 times as long as wide, fold it together and lay one end over the middle; then the other end over that, so the paste is 3 double; roll and fold it twice more the same way; then roll it out thin, butter and dust 8 cups with flour and line them with the crust; fill them with finely sliced tart apples and sugar, cover them with the same paste and set the cups in a pan of hot water; put them in the oven to bake; when done turn them onto a dish, dust with sugar and serve with 2 sauces—a wine or nutmeg sauce and a hard sauce. These dumplings can be made with any kind of fruit.
[785.] Steamed Apple Dumplings.— Prepare a fine puff paste, cut it into squares and inclose in each square a nice peeled and cored, juicy apple; lay the dumplings into a steamer, cover tightly, set the steamer over boiling water and let them steam till done, which will take from 1 to 1½ hours; serve with brandy, hard or sherry wine sauce. Instead of puff paste a fine pie crust may be used.
[786.] Boiled Apple Dumplings, No. 1.— 1 cup finely chopped suet, 2 cups prepared flour, 1 egg and ¾ cup water; mix this into a stiff dough, roll it out ⅛ of an inch in thickness and cut into squares; brush each square over with beaten egg and sprinkle over some finely sifted bread crumbs; put in the center of each a nice pared and cored juicy, tart apple; bring the 4 corners of the paste together on top of apple and press them together; brush the dumplings over with beaten egg and dust over them some fine bread crumbs; wring out some small, square pieces of muslin in hot water and dust them with flour; inclose each dumpling in a cloth, pin the 4 corners together, drop them into slightly salted boiling water and boil ¾ hour; serve with cherry wine or nutmeg sauce, or hard or brandy sauce. Dumplings boiled in this way are dry and light. ½ cup of lard may be substituted for the suet.
[787.] Boiled Apple Dumplings, No. 2.— ½ pound lard, 1 pound sifted flour, 1 teaspoonful salt and ½ cup cold water; put flour, lard and salt in a bowl and chop the lard fine with a knife in the flour; add the water and mix it with the knife into a stiff paste; put the paste on a floured board and roll it out about ½ inch in thickness; fold it up and roll it out again about ⅛ of an inch thick; cut into squares and lay in the center of each a pared and cored juicy, tart apple; bring the corners of the squares neatly together and press them lightly; inclose each dumpling in a small square cloth, bring the 4 corners together and fasten with a pin; each cloth should be previously dipped in hot water, wrung out and dusted with flour on the inside before the dumpling is put into it; drop them into boiling water which is slightly salted, boil ½ hour and serve with cherry wine sauce. Note.—A good pie crust can also be used for this purpose. Peach, plum and cherry dumplings are made the same way. The above ingredients will make about 8 dumplings. ½ pound finely chopped suet may be used instead of lard.
[788.] Lemon Dumplings.— Mix 2 cups prepared flour with 2 eggs, 1 tablespoonful butter or ½ cup finely chopped suet, 1½ tablespoonfuls sugar, the juice and half the grated rind of 1 lemon and finish the same as Orange Dumplings; serve with cherry wine sauce or prepare a sauce the same as for Orange Dumplings and flavor with lemon instead of oranges.
[789.] Orange Dumplings.— 2 cups prepared flour, 2 eggs, 2 teaspoonfuls butter, 1 tablespoonful sugar and 1 cup water; mix this into a thick batter; pare 3 nice oranges, cut them into small pieces and remove the pits and all the skin, so that there is nothing left but the meat of the oranges; stir this into the batter; have a kettle of boiling water on the stove with a little salt; next drop the mixture with a tablespoon into the boiling water, taking care not to put too much in at once; cover the kettle and boil the dumplings just 10 minutes; remove them with a skimmer to a warm dish and serve at once with the following sauce:—Stir 2 tablespoonfuls butter with 1 cup powdered sugar to a cream and add by degrees 1 egg, 2 tablespoonfuls brandy or wine, the juice of 1 orange and a little grated rind. These dumplings should be removed from the water as soon as done, otherwise they will become heavy.
[790.] Fruit Dumplings.— Stir 1 ounce butter to a cream and add by degrees 3 eggs, 2 tablespoonfuls sugar, 2 tablespoonfuls finely chopped almonds, a little grated lemon peel, 4 large apples peeled and cut into small slices and ¼ pound bread that has been previously soaked in water and pressed out in a napkin; add cup of bread crumbs, mix all together, drop with a spoon dumplings from this mixture into slightly salted boiling water, boil until done and serve with wine sauce. Cherries, peaches, pears, plums, blackberries or huckleberries may be used instead of apples.
[791.] Strawberry Dumplings.— 1 cup beef suet freed from strings and chopped fine, 3 cups sifted prepared flour, 1 tablespoonful sugar and 2 eggs; mix with ¾ cup cold water to a soft dough; shape into large balls with floured hands, put into a dumpling cloth that is buttered and floured on the inside and fasten the 4 corners of the cloth together with a pin; drop into slightly salted boiling water and boil till done, which will take about ½ hour. The best way to ascertain if dumplings are done is to thrust a knitting needle into them. If no dough clings to it and the needle comes out clean they are done and must be instantly removed from fire, taken from the cloth, laid on a warm dish and served at once; serve with the same sauce as the following recipe.
[792.] Strawberry Dumplings (another way).— 2 cups prepared flour, 2 eggs, 1 tablespoonful butter, 1 tablespoonful sugar and 1 cup milk or water; mix this into a stiff batter and stir in lastly 1 cup well washed and drained berries and finish the same as Orange Dumplings; serve with the following sauce:—Stir 2 tablespoonfuls butter with 1 cup powdered sugar to a cream and add the yolks of 2 eggs and 3 tablespoonfuls white wine; when this is well mixed stir 1 cup nice, ripe strawberries into it; put sauce into a glass dish; have the whites beaten to a stiff froth, spread it over the top of sauce and set nice, large strawberries around the edge of dish. These dumplings may be made of all kinds of fruit—peaches, cherries, plums, pears or apricots.