Indulgent Homemade Plum Dumplings

1. Slice the prunes almost in half, open them, and remove the pits. Place about 1/3 teaspoon of sugar into the hollow of each plum; close the plum and place in a bowl. Set aside.

2. Place potatoes into a large pot with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook until tender, about 20 minutes; drain. When cool enough to handle, mash potatoes with a fork or potato masher. Set aside 1 cup mashed potatoes for the dough and keep warm.

3. Make the dough: Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together into a pile on a breadboard. Make a well in the center; add reserved 1 cup mashed potatoes, egg yolks, and shortening into the well, and work in until the dough is pliable and smooth.

4. When the dough is thoroughly kneaded, roll it out onto a floured board to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. Cut into roughly 4-inch rounds with a biscuit cutter. Holding one piece of dough in your hand, place a whole pitted plum into the center. Place another piece of dough on top and press to seal the edges of the dough together. Make sure there are no leaks, or the plum will come out during cooking.

5. Bring a deep pot of salted water to boil. Place dumplings into the boiling water and boil gently for about 10 minutes.

6. Meanwhile, make the sauce: Melt butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar. (If you like, stir in some of the juice that collects in the bowl of pitted plums.) Stir in a small amount of bread crumbs to slightly thicken the sauce.

7. When dumplings are finished, remove them from the boiling water and place into the frying pan. Turn to coat in the sauce. Serve hot with any extra sauce poured over top.

Tips

When I make these, I make about 100 and freeze them for eating in the winter. To freeze the dumplings, place them in a single layer on a flat baking sheet that is heavily sprinkled with flour. Make sure any dough touching another dumpling has a lot of flour on it so they don’t stick together. Freeze hard. Then you can put them into plastic bags after they are individually frozen. You will need to increase the cooking time slightly for frozen dumplings. Wait until the dumplings float to the surface of the water, then cook for 4 more minutes.