Every person on Earth should have a beloved one who makes him such fluffy apricot dumplings like the ones of my grandmother. Here comes my delicious Granny recipe for Austrian Apricot Dumplings with farmer's cheese/cream cheese and breadcrumbs.

Instead of the apricots you can fill the dumplings with other fruit like strawberries or plums. They are also very good with nougat cream.

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Granny's secrets and tipps

My granny's secret for the dumplings is that she roasts some breadcrumbs with quite a bit of sugar and butter, before the dumplings are rolled in them and are served when still fresh and warm.

Most similar recipes have semolina as a main ingredient. This recipe hasn't. That's why the dumplings are extra soft and fluffy. But this is also why they fall apart more easily, if you for example, add to much butter. You can prevent this by letting the batter rest in the fridge for 1h.

I also tried it without the resting time and in some cases it worked out, other times the dumplings fell apart while cooking! To be on the safe side, you can also use the steamer (about 30 mins) or steamer insert for your pot. I don't know how long to steam them with a steamer insert, but my guess would be 20 mins or so...

Many fill the apricots with sugar cubes so that they become sweeter. We mostly cook with frozen apricots and leave the core in. For this, my grandma likes to serve the dumplings with apricot jam on the side.

Freeze apricot dumplings?

Apricot dumplings clearly have the fluffiest consistency when they are served fresh. Apricot dumplings are also very suitable for freezing. I have tested the following variants of freezing for you:

Freezing apricots for dumplings:

So that she has apricots for dumplings all year round, my grandma always freezes lots of apricots in portions during the apricot season! The frozen apricots should be used without thawing, otherwise they will be too soft. If you want to remove the core and fill the apricots with sugar cubes, you should do this before freezing.

Freeze uncooked apricot dumplings

If the apricots have not been frozen before, the dumplings can be frozen well uncooked (not rolled in breadcrumbs). It is best to freeze them individually so that they do not stick together. Once the dumplings are frozen, they can be stored together in a larger container. As in the recipe, they can be cooked in a saucepan without thawing (possibly a few minutes longer cooking time). Then roll in fresh breadcrumbs as in the recipe.

Freeze cooked apricot dumplings

Freeze cooked apricot dumplings
Even if the dumplings have already been cooked, they can be frozen to cool. It is best not to roll in crumbs yet so that the crumbs don't soften. For this, however, fresh apricots should be used and not previously frozen.

Freeze the toasted crumbs

The crumbs can also be frozen when they have been roasted. They thaw very quickly. It is best to take it out of the freezer a few hours beforehand. The crumbs are then probably not as crispy as they are fresh, but they are a great alternative to apricot dumplings in particular.

Freeze the batter for apricot dumplings

The potting mix can also be frozen very well. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight before use or take out of the freezer a few hours beforehand and allow to thaw unpacked. In the microwave, on the stove or in the oven, however, I would not defrost the dough under any circumstances; the butter would probably melt here and the egg would freeze.

Storing apricot dumplings in the refrigerator

The dumplings can be kept in the refrigerator for a few days and can be eaten cold or warmed up in the microwave. The crumbs would soften in the steamer. I haven't tried to warm them up in the oven yet, but you have to be careful here that they don't dry out or burn the crumbs.

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Make breadcrumbs yourself

My grandma always picks up old, hard rolls and turns her own breadcrumbs in a crumb mill. Instead of a crumb mill, a blender also works very well.

Old white bread, baguettes and rolls can be dried and collected on an ongoing basis. It is best to cut into smaller pieces before drying. This way, the bread rolls dry faster and are easier to grind. As long as they are dried well, they can be stored for a very long time.

If you urgently need to make apricot dumplings, but only have fresh bread and no breadcrumbs at home, you can of course also dry the small-cut breads (baguette, white bread, etc.) in the oven and then grind them into breadcrumbs.

If you don't have breadcrumbs at home but have bread cubes, you can of course use them and grind them in the blender.

Whole grain breadcrumbs?

Dark or wholemeal bread (rye dough, sourdough) instead of white rolls made from wheat and white flour would theoretically also work, but the taste did not convince me. I am otherwise a whole grain fan, but with this recipe I would really stick with breadcrumbs made from wheat and white flour. What I haven't tried yet would be homemade crumbs made from whole spelt or einkorn. In theory, they should work better than rye bread crumbs, but I haven't tried that yet.

You can find step-by-step video instructions here: