Birthday Peach Dumplings

Every year I make Adam a surprise birthday dessert.  It’s as much fun for me as it is for him as I try to recreate his favorite things like Tiramisu, Panna Cotta and Spiderman Cookies.   This year I planned to try something new.  Adam lived in Atlanta during college and fell in love with peaches, so I wanted to make Peach Dumplings from the Smitten Kitchen cookbook.  The only thing that stood in my way was my nemesis… pie dough.

Ah, pie dough… how you frustrate me.  Usually when I make pies I have Adam make the dough because he is much more patient and calculating.  But because it was his birthday surprise I knew I had to do this one on my own.  My favorite pie dough recipe’s are all butter because of the flakiness factor.  I trade off between Julia Childs, Joy of Cooking and Smitten Kitchen’s pie dough recipe.  They are all pretty much the same, but the key comes in not adding too much water and keeping big chunks of butter in the dough.

My attempt at folding... which later turned to balling the dough around the peach.

If you are good at pie dough then this will be a super simple recipe for you.  All you have to do is cut the peach in half, pack it with brown sugar and cinnamon, wrap the dough around the peach and bake.  But for me, it became much more complicated as I tried to fold the dough around the peach.  Because my dough was super dry, I had difficulty folding the dough without it cracking and breaking in half.  As I tried, I became more and more frustrated.  There may have been an expletive or two thrown out and for many of the dumplings I gave up folding and instead balled the dough around peach in frustration. 

Here's a good example of the dough "balled" around the peach

Even though the dumplings were not the prettiest, they tasted AMAZING.  Smitten Kitchen has done it again, although the cookbook makes it look so easy and it was FAR from easy.  But the final product was worth it.  The flaky dough wrapped around the juicy, sugary peach.  It was heavenly… and the birthday boy gave his stamp of approval!

Happy Birthday Adam!

Pie Dough (taken from Smitten Kitchen):

2 ½ cups Flour

1 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt 

16 tbsps butter, very cold

½ cup ice water

Stir together the flour, sugar and salt.  Cut the butter into small pieces and add to the flour mixture.  Using a pastry blender work the butter into the flour mixture until the largest butter pieces are the size of tiny peas.  Place the dough in the freezer for 5 min. to quickly cool it down and then drizzle the water over the flour-butter mixture and gently stir together with a spatula until an uneven mass forms.  I had to add a little more water to make sure it would stick together.  Knead the dough and any remaining bits of flour.  Beware the mixture will warm up with the heat of your hands so move quickly.  Once mixed wrap it in plastic wrap and keep in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Peach Dumplings (taken from Smitten Kitchen)

(makes 6 dumplings)

3 large peaches

1/3 cup brown sugar

Pinch of salt

¼ tsp cinnamon

Pinch of nutmeg

1 tbsp butter cut into 6 pieces and kept cold

1 large egg for glaze

Hard Sauce

4 Tbsps butter, at room temperature

¾ cup powdered sugar

1 tbsp bourbon or a few dashes of vanilla extract, filling the rest of the tbsp with water

Dust the counter with flour and roll out the dough continuously moving it at all times.  This is definitely the hardest part for me and I often fail, but it is the key to good dough.  Try rolling it twice, lifting it, rotating it and repeating.  Roll the dough into six 6- inch squares.  My squares were far from perfect.  If the dough gets to soft, transfer to wax paper and chill in the freezer for a few minutes.

Halve the peaches, remove the pits and pack the hole with a Tbsp of the sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg mixture.  Dot the top of each with a piece of cold butter.  Then center the peach half, cut side up, on a pastry square.  Bring the corners to meet in the center and wrap the dough around the peach.  Or, if like me, “ball” the dough around the peach.  Seal with seams together pinching with your fingertips.

Place the wrapped peaches in a buttered 9 by 11 baking dish and chill for another 30 minutes.  Meanwhile preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Whisk egg with 1 tsp water and brush the mixture over the dumplings.  Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the dumplings are bronzed on top.

While baking make the hard sauce by beating the softened butter with the powdered sugar and bourbon, or vanilla mixture.  When the dumplings come out of the oven, dollop each with a heaping spoonful of the sauce and serve as the sauce melts.    Enjoy with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.