Cookbook:Strawberry Dumplings

| Austrian Cuisine

Strawberry dumplings (erdbeerknödel) are a typically Austrian dish usually served as a main course, rather than as a dessert. This recipe is a tasteful, quick, and easy dish for, say, an evening with in-laws. Cooking strawberry dumplings is relatively easy, but of course it can only be perfected by practice. If you have grown tired of strawberry dumplings, just vary the filling and use other fruits of your choice.

Ingredients

 * 1/5 cup (50 g) butter
 * 4/5 cups (200 g) breadcrumbs
 * 1/5 cup (50 g) white granulated sugar
 * 1 egg
 * 2 cups (500 g) curd cheese (e.g. quark, pot cheese, or farmer cheese)
 * 1 pinch of salt
 * ½ cup (125 g) flour
 * 12 ripe, medium-sized strawberries, rinsed and trimmed
 * Icing sugar

Breadcrumbs

 * 1) Melt the butter in a frying pan.
 * 2) Add the breadcrumbs and the sugar and toast them until they gain a brown colour. Stir well, as the sugar makes the crumbs burn faster.

Dough

 * 1) Put the egg and the curd cheese into a large bowl.
 * 2) Add a pinch of salt.
 * 3) Stir until the mixture is smooth; the egg and the cheese should be blended well.
 * 4) Slowly add the flour, stirring until the dough sticks to one side of the bowl.
 * 5) Let the dough rest for about 5 minutes. If the dough is too moist, which sometimes happens due to the salt, add some more flour.

Assembly

 * 1) Cover your hands with flour, so that the dough won't stick to your fingers when forming the dumplings.
 * 2) Take a large tablespoon of dough and put it onto your palm.
 * 3) Add some flour and roll the dough slightly between your hands until you receive a small ball.
 * 4) Press the ball flat and put a strawberry into the middle. Cover the strawberry with dough, and pinch to seal.
 * 5) Sprinkle the dumpling and your hands with some more flour. Carefully roll the dumpling until you get a smooth, round ball.
 * 6) Put the dumplings on a floured plate. Leave enough space between them, as they will otherwise stick to one another.

Cooking

 * 1) Fill a large pot with about 3 liters of water and bring it to a boil.
 * 2) Put the dumplings into the boiling water. Let them boil in the open pot for about 10 minutes. The dumplings are done, when they float as if they "danced".
 * 3) Take the dumplings out of the boiling water and roll them in the breadcrumbs until they are covered evenly. Since the crumbs are supposed to stick, the dumplings should still be moist on the surface.
 * 4) Serve the dumplings together with a little of the roasted crumbs, and sprinkle them with icing sugar

Notes, tips, and variations

 * Always use fresh, ripe strawberries, as they taste much sweeter than the ones you can buy in the supermarket. Also consider picking strawberries yourself; this way you can choose the ripe and fresh ones and get the size you need for the dumplings. Moreover, you can try a few while picking. Use the spare strawberries for making jam.
 * The breadcrumbs can be toasted without sugar, but in this case you will miss on the caramel flavor. You can also roast the breadcrumbs without butter.
 * This recipe also works well with other fillings like apricots, plums, or chocolate. In Austria the dumplings are also filled with "Mozartkugeln", which are little balls of chocolate, nougat, and almond paste. If you use apricots or plums as a filling, you can add a pinch of cinnamon to the sugar before mixing it with the breadcrumbs. If you serve dumplings with a chocolate filling, garnish them with chocolate sauce and ground walnuts.
 * It is a good idea to serve the dumplings with ice cream (preferably vanilla flavor), garnished with fresh berries and a mint leaf.
 * Enjoying a glass of cold milk together with the dumplings is especially refreshing in the summer months. In Austria it is also common to serve sweet dishes with a cup of coffee.
 * Curd cheese dough only tastes well with sweet fillings. For savory dumplings, which are very popular in Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic, use potato dough and no breadcrumbs.