Homemade Topfen (quark or curd cheese) Dumplings are a staple of the Austrian diet and these dumplings are one of the dishes I make on a regular basis for our family. They are delicious and surprisingly quick and easy to make!
Topfen is an Austrian curd cheese that has a similar flavor to cream cheese. It is also known as quark or farmer’s cheese. I adore topfen as you can see by the many topfen recipes I already have on the blog.
Topfen Dumplings can be served as a main dish or as a dessert. I especially love serving them after a first course of vegetable soup.
Ingredients
- Topfen/Quark: you want spreadable Speisetopfen 20% fat
- Eggs: 1 yolk and 1 whole egg
- Lemon zest, rum and vanilla: optional flavorings
- Dried bread crumbs: bind the dough
This recipe makes enough for 3-4 servings but I like to make a double recipe and then I use 3 whole eggs (instead of 2 yolks and 2 whole eggs) to reduce waste.
I hope you enjoy these classic Austrian dumplings as much as we do!
Austrian Topfen Dumplings (Topfenknödel)
Ingredients
Topfen Dumplings
- 9 ounces (250 g) topfen 20% fat (quark or curd cheese)
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 whole egg
- 2 tablespoons (25 g) melted butter
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½-1 tablespoon dark rum
- Grated zest of half an organic lemon optional
- Pinch salt
- 100 g dry bread crumbs
Crumb Coating
- 2 ½ tablespoons (30 g) butter
- 4 ½ ounces (130 g) dry bread crumbs
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
Strawberry Sauce
- 10 ounces (300 g) strawberries fresh or frozen
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar or more, as you wish
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice optional
Instructions
For the dumplings:
- Using a wooden spoon, stir together all ingredients except the bread crumbs in a bowl until smooth. Stir in the bread crumbs.
- With wet hands, shape small dumplings (about 1 ⅔ inches or 4 cm in diameter) and place them on a dinner plate.
- In a large, wide pot, bring salted water to a boil. Reduce heat and lay the dumplings into the simmering water. To avoid splashing hot water on your hands, place dumplings on a slotted spoon and lower them into the water. Simmer dumplings uncovered for 10 minutes. Lightly nudge the dumplings with the spoon to unstick them from the bottom of the pot.
- Remove dumplings with a slotted spoon and roll them in the toasted crumbs to coat.
For the crumb coating:
- Melt the butter in a large frying pan and slowly toast the breadcrumbs, stirring often and watching closely to prevent them from burning.
- Remove from heat and stir in the granulated sugar.
For the strawberry sauce:
- In a medium-sized saucepan stir together frozen strawberries and sugar. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil.
- Remove from heat and puree strawberries a bit using an immersion blender.
- Stirring constantly, bring sauce to a boil again and boil and stir until sauce thickens (1-2 minutes).
Blitzo
Hi Krista, your recipe looks delicious I'm excited to get back Australia to made this recipe for my family.
Teri
What fabulous desserts. I cannot wait to get back to Austria.
Krista
Thank you, Teri! ☺️