It’s August and Italian prune plums have appeared at my local grocery store. These small plums, around the size of a golf ball, make wonderful dumplings. Earlier this summer to prepare I posted my Knedle Peach Potato Dumpling recipe. The season for these Italian prune plums is short but sweet, and we used to hustle to make as many of these as we could with grandma. Now that these plums are here my heart knows that summer is coming to a close soon.

Approximately 32-36 Dumplings Depending on Plum Size

Ingredients

For the Dough

3 Pounds of Peeled and Cooked Mashed Potatoes

1 Egg

1 Teaspoon of Salt

4 Cups of Sifted Flour (Separate Out 1 Cup)

For the Filling

2 Pounds of Italian Prune Plums (approximately 32-36, ripe but not mushy or rotten)

1/4 Cup of Sugar

1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

For The Topping

3/4 Cup Panko Bread Crumbs

5 Tablespoons of Butter

1/2 of total quantity of Cinnamon Sugar reserved for topping/plating

Method

Peel and cut potatoes into 1 inch cubes, place in a large pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Cook until done and drain and cool quickly with ice and running water. Mash the potatoes. Combine the mashed potatoes, egg and salt. Add in 3 cups of sifted flour and reserve 1 cup to the side. Combine the ingredients and then turn out the mixture onto a lightly floured cutting board. Begin kneading the dough adding the reserved flour as needed to stop the dough from sticking to your hands or the board. Make 2 long sausage like rolls. Cut into equal pieces that match the amount of plums you have.

Using ripe plums, cut the plums in half starting at the top, going around the pit, leaving a small hinge connected at the bottom if possible. Gently pry the halves apart exposing the pit. Use a serrated grapefruit spoon or regular spoon, scoop out the plum pit and discard. Please note if you need to cut the plum in half leaving no hinge to separate that is okay, just keep track of the plum halves and keep the pairs together. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon to make a cinnamon sugar. Reserve half of the cinnamon sugar for topping. Once completed with all of the plums sprinkle inside to taste with cinnamon sugar.

Fill a large stock pot, that can fit at all or half of the dumplings, with enough water to cover the dumplings, and bring to a boil. For the dumplings to fit each one would need to be able to rise to the top, while leaving some room to scoop them out with a slotted spoon when done. Note if your stock pot isn’t large enough to cook all of the dumplings at once, you may need to use two pots.

While waiting for the water to boil. Place both halves of the same plum with cinnamon sugar inside on one of the dough pieces. Use the dough to cover the plum completely, pinching the end/openings closed. Gently roll the dumpling on the cutting board. Be mindful when covering the plum to keep all the sides even. You don’t want a thinner side of dough on one side and a thicker side on the other, making the plum off-centered in the dumpling.

In a non-stick frying pan brown 4 tablespoon of butter, remove from heat adding 3/4 cup of panko bread crumbs and stir until light golden brown. Place in a bowl large enough to hold the cooked dumplings. Place off to the side in preparation to coat the cooked dumplings.

Using a slotted spoon gently drop dumplings into the pot of boiling water, careful not to crowd them. Using the slotted spoon, make sure they don’t stick to the bottom, once they rise to the top continue to cook for 7-10 minutes until the dough and plum are cooked through. You can cut one open to check for doneness, the plums will be hot and cooked through releasing a juice/syrup.

Place the hot cooked dumplings on plates and gently top with the golden brown bread crumb mixture and sprinkle to taste, with the remaining reserved cinnamon sugar. Serve and enjoy.