Cinnamon dumplings with orange sauce
5 August 2019 / Posted in Sweets
Dumplings, or souskluitjies in Afrikaans, are warm and tender pillow-like dough balls cooked in a sweet syrup. We flavoured our syrup with a zesty orange – piled high in a bowl and served with warm custard, it's near impossible to resist this comforting dessert. Easily prepared on your stove-top, this dessert cooks gently on a low heat and turns out great everytime.
Cinnamon dumplings with orange sauce
Serves 6
Sauce
30 g (30 ml) butter
50 g (60 ml) sugar
200 ml orange juice
150 ml water
25 ml orange or naartjie liqueur (optional) or another 25 ml water or orange juice
1-2 cinnamon sticks
2 whole allspice
Dumplings
210 g (375 ml) self-raising flour
5 ml ground cinnamon
2,5 – 5 ml ground allspice
30 g (30 ml) butter, diced
70 ml buttermilk or milk
60 ml golden syrup
Method
- Sauce: Place all the ingredients in a 24 cm Gourmet Dome Fry Pan or Roaster and heat over a medium temperature while stirring to dissolve sugar. Bring to a slow boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Cover sauce with lid and reduce heat while maintaining a low simmer.
- Meanwhile prepare dumplings. Sift flour and spices in a glass bowl and add butter. Rub butter through dry ingredients with fingertips until it becomes a fine and crumbly mixture.
- Mix buttermilk and golden syrup and add to dry ingredients. Using the blade of a knife, fold the liquid into the flour until it forms a soft dough. Gently press together with hands and form into a roll or ball. Divide dough into 18 - 20 equal portions, take care not to handle dough too much as this prevents the dumplings from being light and fluffy.
- Ensure that sauce is simmering and place dumplings in sauce. Cover with lid and check heat setting is on low-medium.
- Simmer dumplings for 6 - 8 minutes and gently turn them over in the sauce. Cover and simmer for another 6 - 8 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when a dumpling is tested. The Visiotherm should not pass the 12 o’clock position, as the dumplings only need a gentle simmering process.
- Serve dumplings and sauce immediately with custard, ice cream or thin cream.
Tips & variations:
- Van der Hum is one of the more popular naartjie liqueurs.
- The orange sauce can be used to prepare Crépes Suzette. Prepare the sauce and place small pancakes, folded in triangles in the sauce. Heat it through and serve.
- Orange dumplings: Substitute cinnamon in dumplings with 5 ml fresh, grated orange or lemon rind and omit cinnamon sticks from sauce.
- Other ingredients such as finely chopped dark chocolate or nuts can also be used instead of the cinnamon. The orange sauce can still be prepared with these dumplings.
Cookware we used
