My grandfather was a professional baker, so you’d think that my mother would have automatically been a great cook. Such was not the case however, her skill came through trial and error, sweat and tears…the old fashioned way.

Does your family have inside jokes, stories you hear over and over again? Mine does. One of them revolves around my dad’s favorite dessert – cherry dumplings. When my mom and dad starting dating (they were high school sweethearts), my mom really wanted to impress my dad and make his favorite dessert. She had seen it made often enough, with the sweet fruit bubbling merrily on the stove and fluffy dollops of dumpling dough resting on top.

She did NOT, however, really know what was in the dumping dough. So she threw some flour and water together, feeling pretty proud of herself for making homemade dumplings, and dropped what she thought was going to be delicious dumplings over the skillet of cherries.

Fast-forward to dessert time, my dad was served a bowl full of yummy cherries topped with piles of hard as rock dumplings. We’re talking projectile missile material people. This was the first cooking lesson my mom learned the hard way – dumplings were more than flour and water.  After 45 years of marriage, my mom has perfected her cooking skills, and makes the best fruit dumplings. You can easily switch out the fruit for whatever you want. Some of my favorites are: blackberry, strawberry, peach, strawberry-rhubarb, cherry, etc…you get the idea.

Topped with heavy cream or ice cream, these dumplings really hit the spot!


Mom’s Fruit Dumplings

Serves: 4-6   Printable Recipe

2 cups all-purpose baking mix (homemade or store bought. See homemade recipe below.)

2/3 cups milk

4 cups berries (or any fruit of your choice)

1/3 cup sugar


Directions:
Stir together the strawberries and sugar in a skillet, let sit for about 10-15 minutes until juice forms. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, and cook uncovered for about 10 minutes. Just until the berries begin to soften, but aren’t mushy.



While the berries are simmering, mix together 2 cups of the all-purpose baking mix and 2/3 cups milk until a soft dough forms. Using a small spoon, drop dough evenly over the berry mixture.


Cover the pan, reduce heat to low and cook for another 8-10 minutes. Until the dumplings have doubled in size and look dry on top.


Remove from heat and let stand for about 5 minutes.  Serve warm, drizzled in cream. This is pure heaven.  Homemade All-Purpose Baking Mix recipe can be found below.