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Dessert

Steamed Apple Dumplings

Steamed apple dumplings made with a buttered dough and apple filling, served with a nutmeg sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Steamed Apple Dumplings

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.

  2. Cut in the butter until very fine.

  3. Stir in the milk or water to form a smooth dough.

  4. Roll out the dough to about ½ inch thick, then fold and roll again to ¾ inch thick.

Assemble and steam

  1. Place the rolled dough in a well‑buttered 2‑quart basin.

  2. Fill the basin with the quartered apples and sprinkle with 3 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon.

  3. Draw the edges of the dough together and cover with a plate.

  4. Steam for 2 hours.

Make the nutmeg sauce and serve

  1. To make the nutmeg sauce, mix 1 cup sugar and 1 heaping tablespoon flour in a saucepan.

  2. Pour in 1 pint of boiling water and boil for 10 minutes.

  3. Add grated nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon salt, and 1 tablespoon butter, cooking for 1 more minute.

  4. Serve the dumplings hot with the nutmeg sauce.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the structure of the dough that wraps the apples.
Baking powder
Releases gas that makes the dumpling dough rise and turn light.
Butter
Cut into the flour to add tenderness and richness to the dough.
Apples
Provide the fruit filling that softens and flavors the dumplings as they steam.
Sugar
Adds sweetness to the dough and to the apple filling.

The step that matters

Cut in the butter until very fine. Butter broken into small pieces and evenly distributed through the flour keeps the dough tender and flaky. Large butter lumps leave greasy patches and an uneven texture.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, butter, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, sauce):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, butter, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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