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Austrian Apricot Topfen Dumplings

You can also use this recipe to make strawberry dumplings. The easiest and quickest way to make strawberry dumplings is to use frozen strawberries in place of the apricots.

Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings 18 dumplings
Calories 240 kcal

Ingredients

Topfen Dumpling Dough

  • 2 eggs
  • 3 ½ ounces (100 g) butter, room temperature
  • 18 ounces (500 g) quark or farmer’s cheese (Topfen 20% fat)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • Scant 2 cups (270 g) flour (use griffiges if in Austria)
  • 1 pinch salt

Filling

  • 16-20 small, ripe apricots
  • 16-20 cubes of sugar

Crumb Coating

  • 5 tablespoons (75 g) Butter
  • 10 ½ ounces (300 g) dry bread crumbs
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Instructions

  1. To make the dumpling dough mix the butter and eggs in a large bowl with a hand mixer. (It’s perfectly fine for the mixture to look curdled at this point!) Add the quark, vanilla, sugar, flour and salt and mix everything together. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill for at least 3 hours (very important!).
  2. Wash and dry the apricots. Slit one side open, remove the pit, replace it with a sugar cube and press the apricot closed again.
  3. To shape the dumplings, keep your hands well-floured. Using a soup spoon scoop out a generous portion of dough, flatten it with your hands, place an apricot, slit side down, on the dough and wrap the dough around the apricot, sealing the edges. You shouldn’t be able to see the seam at all. Lightly shape the dumpling into a round ball. Place dumplings on a plate and keep chilled.*
  4. For the crumb coating melt the butter in a large frying pan and slowly toast the breadcrumbs, stirring often and watching carefully to prevent them from burning. Remove from heat and stir in the granulated sugar.

  5. In a large, wide pot, bring salted water to a boil. Reduce heat and lay the dumplings into the simmering water. To prevent splashing hot water on your hands, place dumplings on a slotted spoon and lower them into the water. Lightly nudge the dumplings with the spoon to unstick them from the bottom of the pot. Once the dumplings have come to the surface of the water, cook them for an additional 10 minutes so that the apricot inside cooks through. Remove dumplings with a slotted spoon and roll them in the toasted crumbs to coat. Place finished dumplings on a platter while cooking the rest. Serve dumplings with additional crumbs and powdered sugar.

Recipe Notes

*The raw dumplings can also be frozen. To prepare: place frozen dumplings into simmering salted water. Once the dumplings have come to the surface of the water, cook them for an additional 10 minutes. Remove dumplings with a slotted spoon and roll them in toasted crumbs.

Recipe adapted from Sarah Wiener.