Plum Dumplings With Cottage Cheese
Dessert plum dumplings with toasted breadcrumbs and a dough made of cottage cheese and spelt flour (or coarse flour or semolina).
EQUIPMENT
- 1 cooking pot
- 1 frying pan
INGREDIENTS
- 8 plums
- 500 g cottage cheese
- 300 g spelt flour
- 150 g butter
- 1 egg
- 5 g salt
- 70 g breadcrumbs
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp honey (or sugar)
Pin
Print
INSTRUCTIONS
- In a large bowl, mix the cottage cheese until smooth, blending first if it's lumpy.
- Add 2 ½ cups (300 g) spelt flour, 5 ½ tablespoons (80 g) butter, 1 egg, and a pinch of salt. Mix with a spoon until just combined, no need to knead. Make sure the butter is soft or melted before adding.
- Keep mixing until the dough comes together into a soft, sticky ball with no cheese curds left visible.
- Turn the dough onto a floured counter and shape it into a log, roughly 10 inches (25 cm) long and 4 inches (10 cm) wide. Wrap tightly in plastic and chill for 20 minutes.
- While the dough chills, set a large pot of water on the stove to boil, and halve and pit the plums. Cut only partway through each one, and if a plum is very ripe and hard to cut, just leave the pit in.
- Once chilled, slice the dough into 8 equal pieces, about as thick as your thumb. Flatten each piece into a disc and place a plum in the center.
- Fold the dough around the plum, pinching the edges to seal it completely, then roll gently between your palms to form a smooth, round dumpling.
- Repeat with the rest of the dough and plums, dusting each finished dumpling lightly with flour as you go.
- Lower the dumplings gently into the boiling water, giving them room to expand. Reduce to a gentle simmer, below medium heat, and cook for 15 minutes.
- While the dumplings cook, melt 5 tablespoons (70 g) butter in a skillet and toast ⅔ cup (70 g) breadcrumbs over low heat, stirring often so they don't burn.
- Once the dumplings float to the top, lift them out with a slotted spoon, roll them in the warm breadcrumbs, drizzle with honey and serve right away.
NOTES
TIPS
Watery cottage cheese throws off the whole dough. Give it a few minutes in a sieve first if it looks loose.
Rushing the fridge time makes for a dough that fights you at every step. Give it the full 20 minutes.
A rolling boil is too rough on these, ease it back to a simmer once the dumplings are in, or you risk losing filling into the pot.
Give each dumpling breathing room in the pot. Crowd them and they'll stick together instead of cooking evenly.
Stay by the pan while the crumbs toast. They go from golden to burnt in under a minute.
STORAGE & MAKE AHEAD
Leftover dumplings hold in the fridge, covered, for two days.
Great to make ahead and freezing uncooked dumplings! First freeze them on a tray until solid, then bag them up, straight into boiling water later, no defrosting, just add 5 extra minutes to the cook time.
Already cooked a batch? Those freeze fine too, sealed airtight, for up to three months.
NUTRITION
Serving: 2 dumplings ~Calories: 854kcal ~Carbohydrates: 92g ~Protein: 29g ~Fat: 41g ~Saturated Fat: 22g ~Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g ~Monounsaturated Fat: 10g ~Trans Fat: 1g ~Cholesterol: 143mg ~Sodium: 1266mg ~Potassium: 401mg ~Fiber: 13g ~Sugar: 22g ~Vitamin A: 1628IU ~Vitamin C: 13mg ~Calcium: 164mg ~Iron: 5mg