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Although I’m a fan of dumplings served with all kinds of meat, from time to time I also go for the sweet version! Taking advantage of the season, we made blueberry dumplings. I’m sure you’ll find this recipe useful!
It’s not just blueberries that work well in this dish! You can use practically any soft fruit, and even harder ones after cooking. I’ve come across dumplings with apricots, strawberries, and raspberries, but I can easily imagine a dumpling with “apple pie” filling made from baked apples – I think that would be delicious too.
Are blueberry dumplings a dessert? You can treat them that way, but they’re a hearty dish and can easily replace a main meal. It all depends on how many you eat – and remember, yeast dough can be very filling.
Dumplings (Knedliky) – Types
For many people, Czech cuisine is inseparably associated with dumplings. Most often, we mean bread dumplings, potato dumplings, or Karlovy Vary dumplings. How do they differ? The first have a texture similar to bread – in short, it’s boiled yeast dough that also contains pieces of stale bread roll. The second are potato dumplings, which, as the name suggests, are made from potatoes and are often served, for example, with roast duck. The last type, Karlovy Vary dumplings, are made from bread rolls with the addition of egg, butter, and parsley. Dumplings are perfect with all kinds of meat and stews, and when served with svíčková, they are simply ideal.
If you’d like to try making them at home, be sure to check out the article “Recipe for Dumplings”, where you’ll find instructions for both potato and bread dumplings, as well as the recipe for Karlovy Vary dumplings.
Ingredients
To make blueberry dumplings, you don’t need any unusual ingredients. This recipe makes about twelve large dumplings. You will need:
- ½ liter of milk (not cold)
- 20 g fresh yeast
- 1 kg flour
- 600 g blueberries
- 1 egg
- 55 g sugar
- 100 g curd cheese (firm)
- 100 g butter
- powdered sugar
- cream
- a pinch of salt
Blueberry Dumplings – Recipe
Start by crumbling the yeast and mixing it with half a teaspoon of sugar in warm milk. Set aside for about 15–20 minutes in a warm place to rise. Next, add this mixture to the flour and egg. Add a pinch of salt and knead until the dough is smooth and non-sticky. Then leave it to rise for at least half an hour.
Meanwhile, mix 400 g of blueberries with 10 teaspoons (50 g) of powdered sugar and set aside. Roll out the risen dough to about 1 cm thick and cut it into squares. Place some blueberries in the center of each square and seal well. Leave them to rise again. Remember to seal them tightly, otherwise some of the filling will leak out.
While the dumplings are rising, bring a pot of water with a pinch of salt to a boil. Depending on the size of your pot, cook 2–3 dumplings at a time, covered, for 5–7 minutes. The dumplings will expand as they cook. After removing them from the pot, prick each one with a fork and place them in a bowl with a little butter to prevent sticking.
Serve the dumplings with grated curd cheese, blueberries (you can turn the remaining ones into a sauce – just heat them well in a pot or microwave until they release their juices), powdered sugar, melted butter, and cream!
Are blueberry dumplings tasty?
These blueberry dumplings taste absolutely delicious! It’s up to you how much filling you put inside and how big you make them. Don’t worry if they’re not perfectly round or if each one ends up with a different shape – the main thing is that they taste great.
Of course, this dish tastes best somewhere along a mountain trail in the Czech Republic, but even the homemade version can bring back fond memories and be a pleasant change for lunch.
P.S. When I was in the Czech Republic, I kept wondering what kind of cheese they used, and I was told it was simply curd cheese – just a firmer type. If you can’t find firm enough white cheese (I bought a low-fat one), you can freeze it slightly and then grate it on a coarse grater – it works just as well.
