Looking for some yummy festive recipe for Christmas dinner? What about enjoying delicious Ukrainian varenyky (dumplings) with rich sweet prune and fresh apple filling? These dumplings aren’t difficult to cook but so well-loved. They’ll become a crowd-pleaser. A wonderful idea to serve them as a dessert on Christmas night.
Ingredients:
Dough
- 250 ml water
- 300 g flour
- 3 tbsp sunflower oil
Fruit filling
- 250 g apples
- 250 g prunes
- 30 g dairy butter
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- a pinch of salt
For serving
- Dairy butter
- Sour cream/Honey
Cooking
Making the dough
Sift the flour into a bowl carefully so that there are no lumps. Add salt, oil, and water one by one. Knead the dough until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Cover the dough with plastic wrap and leave for half an hour to rest.
Preparing the filling
Wash apples under running water. Peel the apples and grate them on the coarse side of a grater. Melt dairy butter in a frying pan. Add the apples and stew them for about 10 minutes. Wash prunes thoroughly and cover them with boiling water. Leave for 15 minutes. Drain water and cut the prunes finely. Add cinnamon, sugar, and prunes to the stewed apples and mix everything carefully.
Folding dumplings
Flour your work surface generously and roll out the dough into big sheets. Punch out the circles with an upturned wine glass or biscuit cutter. Scoop the filling and place it in the center of each circle. Pinch the edges of the dough circle to form a dumpling. Repeat until you use all the ingredients.
Place your varenyky on a well-floured tray and make sure they don’t touch each other.
Boiling and serving
Bring water to a boil in a saucepan. Add salt and carefully pop the dumplings in. Boil them until cooked (your varenyky will float to the surface in about 20 minutes). Collect the dumplings delicately with a skimmer and drain the water well.
Add melted dairy butter and swirl varenyky around. Serve dumplings hot with a dollop of fresh sour cream of honey.
Have you liked the recipe for the prune varenyky?
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