These old-fashioned baked apple dumplings wrap tart cooking apples in homemade pastry and bake them in warm cinnamon syrup. Serve with a little of the remaining sauce and warm cream, if desired.

Prep: About 40 minutes | Cook: About 45 minutes | Total: About 1 hour 25 minutes | Servings: 6 dumplings | Difficulty: Moderate (3 of 5) | Cost: Moderate (3 of 5) | Region: American

Ingredients

Apple filling

• 6 small Granny Smith or other firm baking apples, peeled and cored
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons softened butter
• Warm cream, optional, for serving

Dumpling pastry

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup vegetable shortening
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 tablespoons water, plus a little more only if needed
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Cinnamon sugar syrup

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 cups water

Instructions

1. Make the pastry: Whisk the flour and salt together. Cut in half the shortening until the mixture resembles coarse meal, then cut in the remaining shortening until pea-size pieces remain.
2. Whisk the egg yolk with 2 tablespoons water and the lemon juice. Add to the flour mixture and toss gently until a dough forms. Add a few drops of water only if needed for the dough to hold together. Gather into a disk and chill briefly if too soft to roll.
3. Make the syrup: Combine the granulated sugar, corn syrup, optional vanilla, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, and 2 cups water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
4. Heat the oven to 425°F. Lightly grease a baking dish large enough to hold six dumplings without crowding.
5. Mix the 1/4 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg for the filling. Divide the sugar mixture and softened butter evenly among the cored apples.
6. Roll the pastry to about 1/8 inch thick on a lightly floured surface and cut into six squares large enough to enclose the apples, approximately 6 inches each.
7. Set one apple on each pastry square. Fold the pastry around the apple, bring the edges together, and pinch to seal. Set the wrapped apples seam-side down in the prepared dish.
8. Pour approximately 1 cup of the warm cinnamon syrup over the dumplings, keeping the remaining syrup for serving.
9. Bake for approximately 40–45 minutes, checking from 30 minutes onward, until the pastry is golden and the apples are tender when tested with a skewer. If the pastry browns too rapidly, tent loosely with foil.
10. Let stand briefly. Serve warm with the reserved syrup and a little warm cream, if desired.

Cook’s notes

• Small apples wrap more easily; if using large apples, cut them into portions and distribute evenly among the pastry squares.
• The pastry and syrup are both made from scratch, unlike the separate Crescent Roll Apple Dumplings recipe.
• The recipe may need a larger dish depending on apple size. Leave room for syrup to bubble without overflowing.
• The syrup recipe makes enough for baking and serving. Reserve the extra syrup separately; do not overfill the baking dish.