The start of any new career is filled with many firsts: first day of work, first paycheck, first business trip, first holiday season without a Christmas break. Yes, dear readers, I have survived my first “real adult” holiday season, which translates to my first holiday season with ZERO days off save for Christmas and New Year’s Day (yes, I even had to work the Eves-ah! the humanity). Even though I had no vacation time, I can’t complain about “working” over the holidays as I was allowed to work mostly from home and the majority of my co-workers (especially those senior to me) were out of the office and unavailable. I went DAYS without receiving an e-mail from a human! It was a nice break, even if I didn’t get to sleep in.
As the holidays wound down and I prepared to return to actually working from my office the taste tester and I took stock of our fridge. Our goal for the month of January is both simple and shared by the majority of people on earth: consume as few calories and spend as little money as possible. We, like so, so many of you I suspect, might have gotten a little carried away in the holiday spirit and maybe over-did it a teensy bit in both the eating and the spending department (Some of us struggled with the spending more than others, but gah did you see my Christmas decorations? WORTH IT!).
Anyway, as we stood taking stock of our fridge, the few remaining items demonstrated the best-laid plans of our holiday houseguests gone awry. Oh silly visitors, how naive that you thought you might eat something as healthy and mundane as an apple while Christmas cookies littered the counter and egg nog nestled into the fridge. Three weeks later, I was left with a crisper FULL of apples and a fridge devoid of much else.
Thus the explanation for an apple recipe in January. Healthy enough not to completely destroy your resolutions, but yummy enough for a weekend treat, this health-ish version of my Grandma’s Apple Dumplings will keep you warm on even the coldest winter nights. Best served with ice cream, although re-heated with coffee for breakfast may be a close second.
- Dumplings:
- 2 c. whole wheat flour
- ¼ c. butter plus 1-2 T for filling, cut into small chunks
- ½ c. shortening (can replace with butter if desired)
- ¼ c. milk, any kind (I used almond)
- ¼ c. orange juice
- ½ t. salt
- 2 t. baking powder
- 3-4 small apples, any type (I used a mix of Granny Smith & Fuji)
- 1 T demerara sugar (if you don't have demerara regular brown sugar will work) (optional)
- ¼ c. butter
- 1 c. maple syrup
- ½ t. cinnamon
- ½ t. nutmeg
- Butter a 9x13 oven-safe pan.
- Place flour in large mixing bowl or base of stand mixer. Stir in shortening and butter using pastry blender or the paddle attachment of your mixer.
- Add orange juice, milk, baking powder, and salt. Stir to combine. Dough should be smooth and stick together easily. If dough is too crumbly, add more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time.
- Place dough in refrigerator while you prepare the filling.This will make it easier to handle when its time to roll it out.
- Pre-heat oven to 375.
- Peel and very finely chop apples. Place in bowl and squeeze with a teensy bit of orange juice to prevent browning (optional).
- Remove dough from refrigerator and turn out onto parchment-lined and floured countertop. Roll into a rectangle. I accomplish the rectangular shape by rolling out dough, cutting into a rectangle, and re-incoproarting the scraps into the center of the dough. When the dough is rolled to about ¼ inch thick, trim edges to form rectangle and reserve scraps. Top with apples. Sprinkle with 1 T demerara sugar (optional) and dot with reserved butter. Roll as you would a jelly-roll. Starting at the shorter edge of the rectangle, roll into spiral. Alternatively, roll from long end to form smaller dumplings (as I did here). Remember those reserved scraps? Use them to patch any gaps that may have formed, don't worry about perfection, even if the whole thing falls apart it will still taste delicious!
- Cut into 1 inch pieces using a serrated knife.
- Place each dumpling in bottom of buttered pan.
- Prepare the syrup by combining all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat until melted.
- Pour syrup over dumplings.
- Bake at 375 until browned, about one hour.
- Remove from oven and let stand 5-10 minutes before serving. Serve with ice cream.