Baked Apple Dumplings

These are made with a good short or tart crust. First pare the apples whole, and then cut out the core with a corer, filling up the cavity with sugar, butter and a little cinnamon or a clove. Cut some rounds of paste rather larger than the apples, and cover them leaving no openings. The dumplings should be baked in a pan, and the juice which will ooze out should be retained, as by adding butter and nutmeg it forms a capital sauce in which to serve them. Before the dumplings are quite done (they usually take about an hour in a quick oven), the tops should be moistened and a small quantity of sugar sprinkled over them to glaze. The dumplings are sometimes baked in a pan or deep baking-dish nearly full of a rich sauce, made of water, sugar and a good-sized lump of butter, together with a little cinnamon. They should be well covered with this syrup a little being poured over them before serving.

Boiled Apple Dumplings

Pare some large apples, cut them into quarters, and take out the cores. Take a piece of crust made from good puff paste, and roll it out to sufficient size to cover an apple, roll the crust around the apple and make into a ball. Dip a clean cloth into a pot of boiling water and shake flour over it. Tie each dumpling separately and drop it into the boiling water. If the crust is sufficiently light and the apples not too large, half an hour will be long enough to boil them; but if very large, the apples will require nearly an hour. Serve with fresh butter and sugar, or the butter and sugar may be melted together, making a sauce, with a little essence of lemon added, to flavor.

Currant Dumplings

Take half a pound of beef-suet and chop fine; put in a basin with four tablespoonfuls of flour, one pound of breadcrumbs, half a pound of sugar, and half a pound of cleaned currants. Mix all these well together, and stir in three-quarters of a pint of milk. Dip the center of a pudding-cloth into boiling water, wring it out, dredge a little flour over, and spread the floured cloth over the top of a basin, pour the dumpling into it, tie the cloth tightly with a piece of strong twine, and put the dumpling into a large saucepan of boiling water; add to the water half a tablespoonful of salt, and boil fast for three hours, being careful not to allow the boil to slacken; should the water waste much, replenish it from a kettle kept boiling for the purpose. When the dumpling is done, remove with care from the cloth, and turn onto a hot dish.

Fruit Dumplings

Roll out sufficient suet-crust to make eight dumplings, cut it into rounds four inches in diameter, fill each one separately with different kinds of fruits, put on the top of each a little mixture made with a tablespoonful of sifted breadcrumbs mixed with an egg, sweetened with sugar and flavored with grated lemon peel; roll up to form balls, tie each one separately in a cloth, and boil for forty-five minutes. When done, turn it out, pour over a wine sauce, and serve.

Lemon Dumplings

Mince one-half pound of beef-suet very fine, then mix with it one-half pound of grated breadcrumbs, one-fourth pound of sugar, and the grated peel of one lemon; stir all together well with two beaten eggs. Form the preparation into dumplings, and boil them, tied in cloths, for three-quarters of an hour.

Baked Peach Dumplings

Mix one teaspoonful each of cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda with one quart of flour; add a little salt, sift them together, and make into a paste, with a little milk and water. Sprinkle a little flour on the table, and roll the paste out several times, putting little pieces of lard on it to the amount of six ounces. Roll out thin the last time, and cut it into rounds with a biscuit-cutter. Put two or three pieces of canned peaches on each round, one teaspoonful of butter, and one tablespoonful of fine sugar. Draw the edges firmly together and place the dumplings on a large deep baking-dish, put them in a hot oven and bake quickly. When done, place them on a hot dish, sprinkle a little powdered sugar over, and serve.

Pear Dumplings

Make a good pastry, and cut it in pieces large enough to enclose a medium-sized pear; peel some pears, leaving them whole, and keeping the stem intact, enclose them in pastry, brush them over with beaten egg, and bake them in a moderate oven, Serve them, either hot or cold, with powdered sugar or sauce.