apple dumplings

 

We have always given each other gifts based on the traditional anniversary gifts...I love thinking of creative ways to interpret the traditions!  For the paper anniversary, I recreated the night he proposed with gift certificates to the same restaurant and opera house.  I even asked a friend to meet us at the spot he proposed to take photos.  For the cotton and china anniversary, I gave him a whole new set of lounge wear and made him fortune cookies (China!) with things I loved about him written inside.  Last year, we celebrated the leather anniversary by going to the county fair (cows have leather!), eating at Outback (again, cows!), and then having dessert at Leatherby's Ice Cream.

Yes, we stretch it a bit, but that's what makes it fun!  This year, though, I was dismayed to find out that it was the fruit and flowers anniversary.  What in the world do you get a man that relates to fruit and flowers???

I thought and thought about our 4th anniversaray, agonizing for days.  Finally, I came up with a brilliant idea, if I do say so myself.  I bought him an Apple iPod (hey, apple is a fruit!) and made him a dessert of homemade apple dumplings.  I even cut flower shapes out of the pastry to decorate the dumplings! :)

Apple Dumplings

• 4 cups flour
• 1 T. sugar
• 2 t. salt
• 1 3/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 egg
• 1 T. vinegar
• Garnish: cinnamon and sugar
• 6 apples, cored and peeled

Syrup:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 3/4 cup water
• cinnamon to taste
• 3 T. butter

Combine flour, sugar, and salt together; cut in butter until coarse crumbs form.  In a separate bowl, stir together water, egg, and vinegar until yolk breaks.  Blend egg mixture and crumb mixture with a pastry cutter or fork until soft dough forms.  Chill dough for 15 minutes and then divide into 7 portions.  On a piece of parchment paper, pat 6 of the portions of dough into 5-6 inch circles large enough to wrap around an apple.  Sprinkle each circle of dough with cinnamon and sugar, and then wrap around an apple, covering completely. Use final portion of dough to decorate dumplings.  Place wrapped apples in a baking dish.  To make syrup, combine sugar, water, cinnamon, and butter in a saucepan and heat until sugar has dissolved and butter has melted.  Pour over dumplings; bake at 425 degrees for 40 minutes.