Friday, October 09, 2009

Apple Dumplings

We've finally got into our house, with it's lovely 80's kitchen. It's so much better than the orange 70's kitchen in the last house! I had to celebrate by having people over for dinner.
Only two people, actually, because we don't have a proper table yet - we're using our outdoor furniture inside. But I thought I'd try it out anyway.
It was a weeknight, so I wanted simple. I did a lamb roast with lots of roast veggies (carrots, pumpkin, sweet potato, beetroot) and green beans. The oven behaved beautifully - apart from letting out a lot of steam. I think I need to do something to the seals. Mental note - cook lamb roast for 40 minutes per kilo and turn it during cooking. Success!
For dessert I wanted something suitably traditional to go with the roast, and thought about a chocolate self-saucing pudding. Then I remembered this apple dumpling recipe.
It was a bit silly, really, to be cooking a new recipe in a new oven - especially since I only started assembling the dumplings just before my friends arrived. But it was absolutely worth it! The dumplings rose a lot, and completely filled the dish. They were golden and lovely on top, and the apple was cooked but not mushy inside. The original recipe called for golden syrup, which was hiding somewhere, and I added an extra egg, too. I hope you like them too!

Golden Syrup Apple Dumplings
2 cups SR flour
120gram butter
2 eggs
Milk to combine
2 apples, peeled, cored and quartered

Syrup
1 ½ cups water
½ cup sugar
100grams butter
3 tablespoon treacle
Place all ingredients into a saucepan and bring to the boil

Method:
Rub butter into flour. Beat in eggs. Add milk, and then mix into flour to form a dough.
Divide this mixture into 8 pieces and roll out, fold around each quarter of apple, place into a greased casserole dish. Pour over hot syrup. Bake uncovered at 180 for 30 minutes until golden brown and cooked.
Serve with lemon curd icecream : )