Servings:

2 to start with

Level of difficulty:

Easy

Ingredients

Dough
200g soft curd cheese
'meky tvaroh'
(from your local Polish deli)
1 tbsp melted butter
2 eggs
5 tbsp milk
approx 400g dumpling flour ( 'polohruba mouka' obtainable at www.tatran.co.uk)Slovak shop in London
pinch of salt

CRUMBLE
100g fine breadcrumbs
40g butter
2 tbsp granulated sugar

Cinnamon sugar and more melted butter to spoon over the cooked dumplings.

large pan with boiling slightly salted water.

Small squares of dark chocolate - depending on how many apricot dumplings you want to make.
Ripe apricots, blueberries,dark blue prune plums depending what is in season.

Method

Sieve the curd cheese into a mixing bowl, add the eggs and melted butter, mix well and add the flour and milk in stages to mix to a soft pliable dough. Finish by taking it out of the mixing bowl and forming it into a large roll about 6cm diameter.

Stone the apricots and replace the stone with a piece of chocolate to fit into the cavity. Close the two halves firmly together.

If using plums replace the stone with a lump of sugar.

If using blueberries place a spoonful on the dough and sprinkle with sugar.

Cut a slice of dough about 1cm thick and roll out on a floured board to a circle large enough to envelope the apricot or other fruit. Seal well and drop three or four at a time into the boiling water. Make sure they dont stick to the bottom of the pan, ease them with a wooden spoon so they float about loosely, eventually they will come to the top so let them cook for about 10 -12 minutes, depending on the ripeness of the fruit.

prepare the 'crumble, melt the butter in a frying pan, add the breadcrumbs and gently fry to a pale gold, Sprinkle in the sugar, stir and place in the dish in which you will serve the dumplings.

Take out the cooked dumplings with a slotted spoon, drain and roll in the crumble. Serve hot with some more melted butter spooned over the
top - about a tbsp - and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. The chocolate in the apricot will have melted to make a little sauce.

The dumplings may be made well beforehand and will heat up beautifully fluffy in a steamer (collander over hot water will do)