Traditional Austrian apricot dumplings are a well-loved summer dish during apricot season. In Austria, we eat apricot dumplings as a main dish for lunch or as a dessert.
I love to eat sweet flour-egg-milk based dishes as mains every once in a while (read more about this habit here or here), so this is one of my dearest recipes in summer. It’s fruity, low in added sugar, yet still sweet and so addictively delicious!
Apricot dumpling recipe step by step
To make apricot dumplings, first of all, you have to make the batter. The batter is rather soft, so it has to chill in the fridge for at least half an hour to firm up – longer is even better. It’s easier to work with a thoroughly chilled dough.
Pitting apricots with the back of a cooking spoon – pure fun!
While the batter is chilling, you can pit the apricots. They should be ripe but still hold their shape. Small ones work best. It’s quickest and easiest to remove the pits using the back of a cooking spoon. Simply push the spoon from one end (where the stem is) to the other and the kernel will drop out. This way, the fruit juices will stay in the center of the fruit where they belong.
Replace apricot kernels with sugar cubes to get that fruity-sirupy center.
The traditional and the most delicious way is to replace the apricot pits with a sugar cube to get that oozy, fruity and syrupy center I love the most. If you don’t have any sugar cubes on hand, which I totally understand, and do not bother to buy, simply use about 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar. If doing so, slice the apricot with a knife until half open since the hole from pitting them with a cooking spoon will be too small.
You can also use this method, if your sugar cube won’t fit into the small hole. If you don’t care for the sweet syrupy juice inside the apricot at all, simply omt the sugar. They’ll also taste great without.
Divide dough into portions and wrap them around the apricot.
After chilling the dough, divide it into 8 portions, flatten each portion with well-floured hands and place the apricots in the center. Wrap the dough around the apricot tightly, sealing the edges and shaping it into a ball. I’ve added some tips on how to do this in the recipe part below.
Cook the apricot dumplings for about 15 minutes in slightly simmering water. Remove the dumplings with a slotted spoon and roll them in toasted bread crumbs. Dust them with confectioners’ sugar if you like.
Enjoy!
Recipe for traditional Austrian apricot dumplings. They are fruity, low in added sugar, yet still sweet and so delicious! You can eat them as a main or dessert.
Recipe: Ursula | lilvienna.com
Ingredients
- 250 g/8.8 oz (about 1 cup) farmer’s cheese*
- 1 large egg
- 3.75 tablespoons (45 g) wheat semolina**
- 3 tablespoons (15 g) dry, fine bread crumbs
- 1/3 cup (45 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 8 small apricots
- 8 cubes of sugar (alternatively regular sugar)
- 1.5 tablespoons (20 g) unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup (60 g) dry, fine bread crumbs
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- Pinch of cinnamon (optional)
- Powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
- First, mix all dough ingredients with a fork until you get a nice smooth batter. It’s rather soft but it will firm up when chilling in the fridge. Chill the batter covered for at least half an hour. An hour or longer is even better since the dough is easier to work with when cool.
- Wash apricots and pat them dry. It’s easiest to pit them by inserting the back of a cooking spoon from one side (where the stem is) and pushing it out the other way. Alternatively, slice them half open with a knife and remove the pit.
- Replace the apricot kernel with a sugar cube. This is the traditional way - it will make a nice syrupy center. If you don’t have any sugar cubes on hand, use about 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar. If doing so, slice the apricot with a knife until half open since the hole from pitting them with a cooking spoon will be too small. The dumplings will also taste great without any sugar.
- Divide the dough into 8 portions on a well-floured surface. Tip: If your apricots are rather large, divide dough into 7 portions. Flatten each portion with well-floured hands and place the apricots in the center.
- Tightly wrap the dough around the apricot, sealing the edges and shaping it into a ball. If the edge isn’t sticking since you used too much flour, dip your finger in water and wet it to close the dough around the apricot. I’ve also tried shaping the dumplings with wet hands, without using any flour, as many recipes suggest it but I found the flour version easier to work with. Also, make sure you don’t trap any air inside or the dumpling will not sink to the bottom of the pot as it is supposed to but will float from the beginning. (I always have a floater or two, no biggie, but it’s better if they are sinking down since the dough is cooked properly and the chance of bursting is lower.) At this point, you can also freeze the dumplings, see note.
- In a large pot, bring water to a boil. Cook the apricot dumplings for about 15 minutes in slightly simmering water (no rolling boil!) – they should float towards the end.
- In the meantime, make the breadcrumbs, if you haven’t done it by now.
- Remove the dumplings with a slotted spoon and transfer them to the pan with the bread crumbs. Roll the dumplings in toasted bread crumbs. Dust them with confectioners’ sugar if you like. Enjoy!
- For the breadcrumbs, heat the butter in a large frying pan. When melted, add the breadcrumbs, sugar, and a pinch of cinnamon if you like. Toast the breadcrumbs, stirring often, until golden. Don’t forget about that residual heat, which can quickly burn your crumbs.
Notes
* Farmer’s cheese (‘Topfen’ in Austria) works best for this recipe. You could also use Quark – but you’d need to drain it in a cheesecloth-lined colander overnight since it is too wet. If you don’t mind a ‘grainy’ texture, you could also use ricotta even though the taste will be slightly different (without the slight tang). Same here: Leave it in the fridge to drain overnight.
** I’m using coarse wheat semolina, also called wheat farina or cream of wheat. If you can’t get your hands on it, you can use a mix of dry bread crumbs and flour – but the dough might be a little more dense.
Freezing: You can freeze the uncooked, filled dumplings. Simply place them on a sheet/large cutting board that is lined with parchment paper. They should not touch each other. Freeze for a few hours and then put them in several freezer bags and close tightly. The pre-freezing step is necessary so they won’t stick to each other. Cook frozen dumplings without defrosting according to the instructions. They will need to cook a few more minutes than indicated.
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Can I make these w cherries to make a Austrian cherry dumpling? Also can you make ahead of time then cook before serving a day later?
Hi Julie,
I have never tried them with cherries. I have made them with plums and it worked fine. Since cherries are quite small, you have to make smaller dumplings or put in more cherries :) – Ursula
Thanks! what about making them the day before?
what step do I stop at? I am making for a friend who remembers his Austrian grandmother’s cherry dumplings.
Hi Julie,
I’ve never made them in advance, but I guess you could make the dough in advance and put them in the fridge, covered. I wouldn’t dare to shape them (with the cherries inside), since the cherries lose fruit juice and could soften the dough. And since you will have to pit the cherries first, they are cut open and will lose water. So I would recommend only making the dough ahead of time, chill it, and finish them when you intend to eat them.
Oh, and so sorry for my late reply – I hope this comes not too late. Ursula
In Salzburg our family used potato dough. I remember helping my Oma grate the potatoes. Today I use the Panni potato dumpling mix with an egg added just to help hold it together well.
Hi Elke,
Yes! Potato dough is also pretty common to use for these. However, I prefer the farmer’s cheese version. It is slightly tangy and you don’t have to cook potatoes first :) But of course, some day, I’ll post a recipe for fruit dumplings with potato dough as well here on the blog. It’s just too good not to make. Thanks for leaving a commment, Elke.
My mother, a native-Wiener, made our schwetchknodel (plum or apricot) with a potato dough and then either a bread crumbs or poppy-seed coating. TO DIE FOR and a main course at dinner sometimes.
Hi Mike,
Sounds delicious!! The dough is either made of farmer’s cheese (Topfen) or potatoes. I am planning on posting a recipe for Plum dumplings (Zwetschgenknödel) with poato dough soon. And these sweet treats as main for lunch dinner: it’s the best :)
Thank you for your recipes I am of Austrian decent and I lost all my family recipes and I found you
Hi Rochelle,
I hope you’ll find some recipes here on the blog that will resemble the dishes you know. Happy cooking! Ursula
I used to have this on the mountains in Austria when skiing, it amused us because we asked for a canoodle to share between my brother-in-law and I and had to explain why we kept laughing
Lol. Well, I hoped you enjoyed the canoodle ;-) Thanks for the story, made my day! Ursula
Hi Elke
What can I use to substitute the quark? My mother always made the dumplings for us but unfortunately, she has Alzheimer’s and cannot remember anymorenokacnik@.
Dear Arno,
Farmer’s cheese is your best option. In New England, I always found it at reasonable prices at Market Basket. If you can’t find it in a store, your next best option is dry curd cottage cheese. You can see the consistency of the cheese you would want to use in the video of my curd cheese dumplings: https://www.lilvienna.com/curd-cheese-dumplings/ I used Austrian Topfen in the video. If your cheese is too moist, let it sit in a cheesecloth (in a colander) overnight to dry it a bit and you might want to add a tiny bit more flour and bread crumbs if the dough feels to wet. Hope this helps. Ursula
Can they be frozen?
Hi Diane,
Yes, they can be frozen. I forgot to add the instructions to the recipe. Will do now, thanks for the tip. So if you want to freeze them, I suggest to do the following: Freeze the uncooked, filled dumplings. Simply place them on a sheet/large cutting board that is lined with parchment paper. They should not touch each other. Freeze for a few hours and then put them in several freezer bags and close tightly. The pre-freezing step is necessary so they won’t stick to each other. Cook frozen dumplings without defrosting according to the instructions. They will need to cook a few more minutes than indicated.
can’t wait for apricot season . I was thinking when it says put sugar cube in , what about about a small piece of marzipan instead, apricot and almonds are good together even some frangipane…
Cannot wait for summer fruits to be in. It’s winter in my part of the world…
Hi Lindi,
Yes, yes, and yes – to all your suggestions :)
A small piece of marzipan in place of the sugar cubes is genius! I was so much looking forward to summer fruits season here in Austria this winter and spring, I can’t tell you. Now I’m in the middle of it and enjoy it every day – ripe and juicy apricots, peaches and strawberries. This is my dream. Have a good rest of the cooler months and hopefully, spring arrives soon!
Ursula