Powered by Red: Day 4 – Cherry Dumplings Recipe

I really should title this post, “Dave did my homework.” Last night, Betsy sent me home with a can of tart cherries in water and a simple assignment. I was supposed to make the cherry dumpling recipe from MixingBowl.com, so I could write about it today as part of our “28 Days Powered by Red” Orchard Talk series.  Betsy made it last weekend with great success, and assured me it was super good and easy.

I watched “Julie & Julia” on DVD instead. Oh, the irony!

Neither a baker nor a real writer am I, but I do have one thing in common with both Julie Powell and Julia Child: a great husband.  I left him the can of cherries and a folded up recipe.

Dave made the cherry sauce. He said he only used 1/2 cup of sugar, and that he would use even a little less next time, just so he could get the extra “pop” from the tart cherries. The other thing he considered was maybe adding a touch of cherry juice concentrate to the mixture to further enhance both the cherry flavor and the color.

Dave brought the cherry filling to a boil.

Dave then mixed up the ingredients for the dumpling part. We’re out of nutmeg at home, so he used cinnamon instead. Butter. Sugar. Cinnamon. No problem there.

Dave dropped the dumpling mix by spoonfuls over the cherry mixture, then did as instructed.  He covered the pot and let it cook on medium-low heat for 20 minutes without looking. He said that was the hardest part, not lifting the lid.

Dave texted me at 12:48pm. “Omg c u in a minute.” A few moments later, he brought us a pot of “warm cherry goodness,” just as the recipe stated.  We all agreed it was delicious, and that it couldn’t hurt to add an extra can of cherries if like us, you’d like a little more cherry filling. The dumplings totally hold their own and then some, so this is really just a matter of preference.

Dave posed with then-half-eaten-soon-to-be-completely-eaten pot of cherry dumplings.  This 28 days of cherries thing is turning out to be great fun!

Here is the complete recipe, as published by Kim in Pueblo, CO.

Recipe By : Baking4fun
Source:   My grandma

Warm cherry goodness:

Servings :        6-8
Prep time :       1/2 hour
Cook time :     15-20 minutes
Total time :      45-55 minutes

Ingredients:
1 can King Orchards Tart Cherries in Water
1/2 can water
1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar (depends on your taste)
1/4 tsp almond extract

Dumplings:
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg

Directions:
Place first four ingredients into 3 qt pan, bring to a boil. Make dumplings. Cream together butter and sugar. Sift flour and baking powder. Add to creamed mixture, alternately with milk and vanilla. Grate in nutmeg. Once mixed, drop by spoonfuls into hot cherry sauce. Cover pan and cook on med low (keeping small bubbles bubbling), without looking for 15-20 minutes.
Serve with whipped cream and slivered almonds.
I use a pan with a glass lid