Apple Dumplings

I got this recipe off of the internet when I was looking for a recipe for apple dumplings to make for DH who had never had them before. I thought this worked wonderfully, but I would like to preface the recipe by saying that I used ingredients that I had on hand instead of the shortening and milk so my pastry was much much stickier than it should have been and I had to add a lot more flour. I am posting the recipe exactly as I found it with the warning that when you make it slowly add the flour until the dough all comes together to make a nice soft dough that isn't sticky. If you need more than what the recipe calls for, please add more, and then let me know so that I can adjust accordingly. Hope you enjoy these as much as we did.

• Ready In: 1 hr 20 mins
• Serves: 6
• Yields: 6 Dumplings

Ingredients

• 6  red apples, cored and peeled
•  sugar
•  butter
•  cinnamon

• Pastry

• 2  cups flour, sifted
• 2  teaspoons baking powder, sifted
• 1  teaspoon salt, sifted
• 1⁄2 cup shortening
• 3⁄4 cup milk

• Sauce

• 1⁄2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1⁄3 cup butter
• 1 1⁄3 cups hot water
• 1  dash cinnamon
• 1  dash nutmeg
•  French vanilla ice cream (optional)

Directions

1. For the pastry:.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together and mix.
3. Cut in the shortening.
4. Add the milk and stir to form a soft dough.
5. Note: if you need more flour to make the dough not sticky add more.
6. Divide the dough in to six even parts.
7. Roll the balls out to 1/8" thickness.
8. To Form the Dumplings:.
9. Place the apple in the middle of the rolled out dough and cover with a dash of sugar and cinnamon, and a dab of butter.
10. Wrap the dough around the apple. Don't worry about making it pretty, my grandma says that if she has trouble with the dough in apple dumplings she just picks the whole thing up and packs the dough around the apple like she's forming a snowball until the apple is covered.
11. Repeat for all of the apples.
12. Place the apples in a greased oven safe pan with the sealed edges under.
13. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
14. For the Sauce:.
15. Combine the butter, brown sugar, hot water, nutmeg and cinnamon (I'm kind of heavy handed with the cinnamon and nutmeg.) If the water isn't really hot (hot enough to melt the butter and brown sugar) I just put it in a sauce pan and stir until it's good and mixed.
16. Pour the sauce over the apples and put them in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the dough around the apples is golden brown.
17. Turn the heat down to 350 degrees F and bake for about 10 or 15 minutes, or until the apples or done. You can test this with a toothpick. The apples should be soft like they are in an apple pie.
18. Serve hot with with ice cream over top.
19. Enjoy!