5 Ingredients or Fewer
by: clintonhillbilly
April18,2010
4.5
2 Ratings
- Prep time 2 hours
- Cook time 10 minutes
- Serves 16
Jump to Recipe
Author Notes
This recipe has been passed down in my family for at least four generations. My great grandmother brought over this recipe when she immigrated from a village in Germany to New Jersey in 1923. My mother was the first generation to actually write it down—until then it was taught from mother to daughter and made from memory. The dumplings are hot, light, fluffy balls of dough, similar to Chinese steam buns, and the blueberry sauce is sweet and tart.
The dumplings should be hot and the sauce cool. I have never had anything like these anywhere. To me, they are totally unique. I have many treasured childhood summer memories of waking up early in the morning to make the dough, letting it rise in the sun in the backyard, and devouring oodles of steam dumplings and blueberry sauce for lunch.
The recipe takes time, but it is not difficult, and it is well worth the investment of a few hours. Once you've tasted it, you will spend the time you are waiting for the dough to rise fantasizing about eating them. You can pour the cool blueberry sauce over the hot dumplings, or you can do what I did as a little girl and poke a hole in them with a spoon, stuff them each with a spoonful of blueberry sauce, and then pour more blueberry sauce on top. - clintonhillbilly —clintonhillbilly
Test Kitchen Notes
This was delicious. The dumplings are super light and spongy and just soak up the sauce, very yummy. The texture was a bit like steamed sponge cake, even though it calls for much less egg. I'd recommend pouring a little bit of sauce at a time, clintonhillbilly is right that hot dumplings and cold sauce are a terrific contrast, but if you douse them with sauce the dumplings cool off too fast. I'll definitely make this again, maybe with other berries or fruit. - Arathi —The Editors
- Test Kitchen-Approved
What You'll Need
Ingredients
- Dumplings
- 1 packetyeast
- 1/4 cuplukewarm water
- 1/2 cupmilk, scalded
- 2 tablespoonssugar
- 2 tablespoonsbutter
- 1/4 teaspoonsalt
- 1 egg, well beaten
- 1 1/2 to 3 cupssifted all-purpose flour
- Blueberry Sauce
- 1 pint of blueberries
- 1/2 cupsugar
- a little water
- 3/4 teaspoonlemon juice
Directions
- Dumplings
- Add yeast to water, let stand a few minutes then stir until dissolved.
- Combine scalded milk, sugar, butter, salt, and egg. Cool to lukewarm and stir in yeast mixture.
- Add enough flour to make stiff dough. Cover and let rise until doubled.
- Turn onto lightly floured board and knead lightly until smooth.
- Roll out to 1/2-inch thickness and cut into 2-inch rounds. Cover and let rise until doubled.
- Lightly grease steamer basket, cover and steam for 10 minutes.
- Blueberry Sauce
- Combine blueberries and 1/2 cup of sugar in a saucepan, and add a little water (I pass the saucepan under running water from the faucet). Bring to a boil and stir so that sugar dissolves. Simmer until blueberry juice turns syrupy and add lemon juice.
- Remove from heat and pour into a bowl. Chill in refrigerator while dough for dumplings rises.
- Ladle blueberry sauce over dumplings as they come out of the steamer.
Tags:
- Bread
- Cake
- German
- Blueberry
- Lemon Juice
- Milk/Cream
- Fruit
- 5 Ingredients or Fewer
- Serves a Crowd
- Summer
- Vegetarian
- Breakfast
Contest Entries
- Your Best Festive, Crowd-Feeding Breakfast
- The Best Recipe or Technique Your Mother Taught You
- Your Best Family Recipe
- Your Best Berry Recipe
- Your Best Breakfast Baked Good
See what other Food52ers are saying.
-
Kristin Arsenault
-
MrsWheelbarrow
-
aargersi
-
-
John
Recipe by: clintonhillbilly
public interest attorney
Popular on Food52
14 Reviews
John January 13, 2019
Is it roll out the dough so it is like a 1/2 inch thick and long piece of spaghetti? Then cut that into 2 inch rounds.
Sorry I've just recently been trying my hand at baking.
clintonhillbilly January 16, 2019
Hi John, you roll it out like a flat pancake that is 1/2 inch thick, and then cut out circles that are about 2 inches across. I usually use a water glass to cut out the rounds. So they are coin-shaped, 2 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch thick.
John January 16, 2019
Ha ya feeling a little dumb for asking.
Thanks so much for the prompt reply.
Marty October 1, 2017
Is this corrrect:
Lightly grease steamer basket, cover and steam for 10 minutes. Lightly grease steamer basket, cover and steam 10 minutes. Double steaming????
clintonhillbilly October 3, 2017
No it isn't, thanks for pointing it out-just steam 1x
Kristin A. May 13, 2016
Can I bake them in a romertopf (clay pot)
Hans W. April 15, 2014
I've been looking for this for YEARS!
My Oma passed, and along with her... the "Heffaklusa"
(as I can recall them being called.)
Drizzle hot butter over them before the cold blueberry sauce.
I can't wait!
-Hans
Georgia M. March 9, 2014
This remind meds of my mother-in-law in Germany. She has since passed away. It was my ex-husband's favorite childhood meal. Thank you for posting it.
gwimper December 20, 2013
This looks great, and thank you for the recipe. Here in Germany they are served with sour cherry sauce or a vanilla cream sauce. I can't wait to try the blueberry sauce soon as the blueberries come into season. :)
clintonhillbilly December 20, 2013
That is so interesting, I wonder if the blueberry sauce was an American adaptation then. I actually have a jar of sour cherries on hand, so I may try making them with that now!
gwimper January 21, 2014
Let me know how you like them. I saved your recipe and hopefully will have some time to make it soon. :)
gwimper January 21, 2014
Oh I failed to mention that sometimes they fill the dumplings with a a tablespoon of the sour cherries, but I only had that in southern Germany. I am not sure that is just regional or not.
MrsWheelbarrow April 21, 2010
Wow! I've got to make these. Blueberry season cannot come soon enough.
aargersi April 19, 2010
These sound wonderful, worth the time investment!
