Marillenknödel

Ingredients

Dough

• 500 gfloury potatoes
• 120 gplain flour
• 40 gfine semolina
• 1egg yolk
• 30 gbutter, softened
• ½ tspsalt

Filling

• 10ripe apricots
• 10sugar cubes, or 10 small pieces of marzipan

Crumbs

• 100 gbutter
• 120 gfine breadcrumbs
• 40 gsugar
• 1 tspcinnamon, optional

To serve

• icing sugar
• stewed plums or vanilla sauce

Directions

1. Boil the potatoes whole in their skins until tender, about 25 minutes. Cook them in their skins. Peeled and quartered they take on water, and a wet potato dough needs so much extra flour that it turns heavy and tough.
2. Peel them while they are still hot and press them through a ricer onto a tray. Spread the riced potato out and let the steam escape for 10 minutes. Letting it steam dry is what keeps the dough light, and this is the step most people skip.
3. Work in the flour, semolina, egg yolk, butter and salt quickly and lightly, just until it comes together. Chill the dough 30 minutes, which firms the butter and makes it far easier to wrap.
4. Wash and dry the apricots and remove the stones without cutting the fruit in half: press a wooden spoon handle through from the stem end to push the stone out.
5. Take a piece of dough, flatten it in your palm, set an apricot in the middle and close the dough around it.
6. Seal it completely, with no thin patches or cracks. Roll each one smooth between wet palms. Bring a wide pan of salted water to a bare simmer, never a rolling boil. It must barely tremble.
7. Lift the dumplings out with a slotted spoon, drain them, and roll them gently in the hot buttered crumbs until coated. Serve at once, dusted with icing sugar.

Technique

• Quark dough is the common alternative to potato dough and is quicker but less traditional in the Wachau.
• Plums are used the same way later in the season, as Zwetschkenknödel.
• Use ripe but firm apricots, because soft ones collapse inside the dough.

Substitutions

• A quark or curd cheese dough in place of potato.
• Marzipan in place of the sugar cube, which many prefer.

Variations

• Zwetschkenknödel, made with plums.
• With ground poppy seed in the crumbs.
• Made with strawberries, which is a modern version.

History

Dumplings wrapped around whole apricots, made with Wachau apricots whose PDO was granted in 1996.

Frequently asked questions

What is Marillenknödel?

Marillenknödel is a dessert from Austria: apricots inside potato dough, rolled in buttered crumbs. Dumplings wrapped around whole apricots, made with Wachau apricots whose PDO was granted in 1996.

How long does Marillenknödel take to make?

Marillenknödel takes 45 min plus 30 min chilling of preparation and 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes 10 dumplings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Marillenknödel?

Yes, within limits. A quark or curd cheese dough in place of potato. Marzipan in place of the sugar cube, which many prefer.

What is the most important thing to get right in Marillenknödel?

Seal it completely, with no thin patches or cracks. Roll each one smooth between wet palms. Bring a wide pan of salted water to a bare simmer, never a rolling boil. It must barely tremble.