Most of us, well five of us, are gluten-free. So most of my cooking is gluten-free and all of my cooking experiments are gluten-free. I hope to write about these "experiments" here.
Apple Dumplings!
Every fall we go to the apple orchard and come home with our favorites. Fuji is always one, this year we also chose Goldrush. Goldrush is a little sour, but juicy and crisp and firm. We all chose this one.
Finding the perfect crust for baked apple dumplings has always been a chore. It's a pie crust, but gluten-free pie crust don't lend themselves to manipulation as is needed to wrap the apple slices in. This year I played around and came up with a dough I could work with and I'm thrilled.
Workable Pie Crust
2 c flour blend (I use equal parts tapioca flour, sorghum flour and potato starch)
1 T xanthum gum
1 t unflavored gelatin (the secret, I think)
½ t salt
1 T sugar
1 stick butter, softened, cut into 1 tablespoon pieces
enough water to make a dry-ish dough
Add the dry ingredients and mix well. Then add the butter, using your hands to work the butter into the flour mix so as to make a sandy appearance. Add just a little water at a time. You want the dough to almost not stick together.
Take this and press into four balls. Roll the balls out on plastic wrap, with another piece of plastic wrap on top. You want to roll out thin- about 1/8 inch. Remove the top plastic wrap. Place about ½ c. of your apple slices (sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon) in the middle of the rolled dough. Using the bottom plastic wrap pull the dough up around the apples and press closed.
You'll place these in a buttered casserole dish, giving each about 1" space. Bake for about 10 min. in a 350° F. Then add a syrup made with 2 c hot water, 2 c sugar and 1 t cinnamon. Stir the syrup well, then pour in on and around the dumplings. Finish baking, about 20 min. more.
