Czech Fruit Dumplings
- Total Time: 28 mins
- Yield: 4-6 1x
Description
Although the traditional recipe calls for filling these dumplings with whole plums, whatever fruit is in season will do.
Ingredients
- 2T (30 ml) butter, softened
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) "pot cheese" (farmer's cheese, quark, tvaroh, tvarog).
- pinch of salt
- 2 cups (480 ml) cake flour or a combination of cake and regular flour. (I used 240g cake and 30g regular flour).
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) milk
- 1 - 1 1/2 lb (450-680 g) fruit (prunes, apricots, cherries, apples or other firm fruit; I used 16 plums)
- melted butter, poppy seeds, additional quark, and powdered sugar for serving
Instructions
- Cream butter, egg and cheese together. It’s OK if it’s a bit lumpy. Add the salt, flour, and milk to make a medium firm dough. Depending on the firmness of your cheese, you may have to add more milk. Allow to rest for 30 minutes.
- Fill a large pot with water and bring it to a boil while you make the dumplings.
- Break off pieces and form into balls–you’ll want 16 or so. Let rest 15 minutes to allow the gluten to relax. On a floured surface, roll dough out into rounds and place a pierced fruit in the center. Dab the edges of the dough to create an adhesive edge, wrap around the fruit, and pinch together, sealing the edges well. Set aside on a floured surface, sealed side down, while you make the other dumplings.
- Gently slip into boiling water one at a time but as quickly as possible. Cook for 5-8 minutes turning once. Remove with a skimmer or slotted spoon.
- To serve, tear open a dumpling with two forks, and drizzle with melted butter, more cheese, poppy seeds, and powdered sugar
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 8 mins
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: Eastern European
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 dumplings
- Calories: 280
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is “pot cheese” and what are acceptable substitutes?
The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of “pot cheese” and notes in parentheses that farmer’s cheese, quark, tvaroh, or tvarog are all the same thing. These are fresh, soft, lightly drained cheeses with a mild tanginess that bind the dough without making it heavy.
Why do the shaped dumplings need to rest for 15 minutes before boiling?
The instructions specify a 15-minute rest after shaping to allow the gluten to relax. This prevents the dough from tightening and splitting around the fruit when the dumplings are slipped into boiling water, and helps them hold their round shape during the 5–8 minute cook.
Which fruit works best for the filling?
The excerpt notes that while the traditional recipe calls for whole plums, whatever firm fruit is in season will work — the recipe list suggests prunes, apricots, cherries, or apples as alternatives. The author used 16 plums for her batch. 
I’m making this now with home made pot cheese and a sliced sugared strawberry & mint filling. My Babí used to make it so I’m giving it a try. My one question is, do I dab with water, egg, or melted butter to seal the edges? Probs should have noticed it sooner, but hindsight is 20/20…
I make fruit dumplings with yeast. Found out when I was in the C.R. There are two recipes.
Roger … try looking for “knedliky”. Recipe is not sweet. It is not bread. It is a big dumpling. The dough is heavy and shaped like loaves of bread which are boiled. My mother put browned bread cubes into them. You need strength because you need to “lift” the dough for about 20 minutes to turn it from lumpy to smooth while making the loaves. To cut the dough you used white thread … put the thread under the cooked loaf and then bring it to the top and crossed the two ends of the thread and pull to create slices…
We eat these knedliky with sweet and sour white cabbage and roast pork with cranberries … a very traditional Czech dish.
With the leftovers on another day … You can reheat the slices in a double boiler. Or …But my favorite is to take the cold slices and cube them … and then brown them in butter in a pan… when they are crispy, you scramble eggs into them… oh my God they are so awesome!
My mother was Czech. She made these dumplings with two 450g packages of farmer’s cottage cheese (also called pressed cottage cheese… you can buy these at the President’s Choice or Independent Grocer’s stores in Canada).
We use just the egg yolk. I don’t add salt. I mix and add in the flour by hand right at the very end to ensure the right consistency. The dough is stiff. I leave the prune plums whole and do not prick them because the juice can destroy the seal during cooking.
To make the dumpling, I lop off a chunk of dough and press it flat in my floured hand. Then I press the dried off prune plum into the dough and mold the rest of the dough around it. I seal the edges by pinch the dough along the seam. When sealed, I roll the dumpling in flour to shape it into a round ball .. in the end, there is no evidence of a sealed edge.
After dropping my dumpling into boiling water, I stir it with a wooden spoon to make sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the large pot. The dumplings are cooked when they have risen to the top. I probably boil them another minute or so and then remove them from the water.
We cut open the dumplings and drizzle with several spoons of browned plain breadcrumbs (browned in a cast iron pan over slow heat with unsalted butter), then icing sugar (either by the spoonful to individual taste or by straining through a tea strainer), and we top it off by drizzling melted unsalted butter.
I love to mush up all the toppings on my plate to blend all the flavors.
We eat this as a main dish .. probably 2-3 dumplings per person. It’s decadent … very rich … huge amount of calories… probably really bad for cholesterol.. but my whole family looks forward to this meal all year. Prune plums are available in the fall… so it’s a once per year treat.
You can reheat the dumplings in a double boiler over water. I put the dumplings in a metal strainer inside the top pot and water in the bottom pot. Basically you can steam them. But don’t overheat and they will fall apart. You can also freeze them.
In a book that I read recently that was set in Prague there was a mention of ginger dumplings. Sounds like a good accompaniment for pork roast. However, I can not find a recipe for them. Can you help?
Thanks’
Roger
Grandma made these with plums and they were so good. Not that easy to make in this hurry up and do it time. Best tried on a weekend when you have more time on your hands. Can’t eat them anymore but sure wish that I could.