Dumplings are always a great comfort food, ideal when eaten while still hot while it’s pouring rain outside. I learned a long time ago that dumplings don’t have to be just with plums, but they don’t have to be with potato dough either. For these balls of happiness, I used pumpkin puree, and I filled them with a delicious almond cream. I further enriched the dough with a few drops of Laboratoire Altho orange essential oil so that they also took on a slightly fruity note.
Since the filling is liquid, or rather pudding-like, it is almost impossible to fill and shape the dumplings in this way, so the cream needs to be frozen before using. I first cooked it, cooled it, and then frozen it in ice cube trays. This makes the dumplings take a little longer to prepare, so it is best to cook and prepare the cream the day before. While the cream is solid, the balls are easy to shape. Finally, I rolled them all in toasted and chopped almonds.
RECIPE
Ingredients for the cream:
- 120 g raw almonds
- 200 ml almond milk
- 4 – 5 tablespoons maple syrup (or other liquid malt)
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch (thickening)
- pinch of bourbon vanilla powder
Ingredients for the dough:
- 185 g pumpkin puree (this is how much I got from 300 g of raw pumpkin)
- 360 g spelt flour
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- 10 – 15 drops of Altho orange essential oil
- 100 ml almond milk
- pinch of salt
Ingredients for the sprinkle:
- toasted and chopped almonds
PROCEDURE
1. Blanch the raw almonds briefly in boiling water (2-3 minutes), drain and peel them, then place them in a blender with all the other ingredients (milk, malt, cornstarch and vanilla). Blend until the almonds are completely crushed and the mixture is smooth.
If you want to taste the almond pieces, you can blend for a shorter time. You can also buy pre-blended, blanched almonds to shorten the preparation time.
2. Pour the mixture into a saucepan and heat until it thickens to the texture of pudding. Remove from heat and let cool. You can cover the surface with cling film to prevent a skin from forming. Once it has cooled slightly, transfer it to ice cube trays and freeze overnight.
3. Clean and dice the pumpkin, then cook in boiling water until soft. Drain well and puree in a blender or food processor. You can also mash it with a fork, but pumpkin is quite fibrous, so you might end up with “strings” that will cause your dough to tear.
4. Transfer the cooled pumpkin puree to a bowl, add maple syrup, essential oil, a pinch of salt, milk and spelt flour and knead the dough.
5. Flour a work surface, roll out the dough (to a thickness of approximately 5 mm) and cut into squares or rectangles. Place one frozen cream cube on each piece. Bring the ends together and form into balls.
6. Put the dumplings in boiling water to cook. When they float, cook them for a few more minutes. If your dumplings are too heavy, they may not float and that’s okay, just keep an eye on the cooking time (you can test with a fork to see if they are cooked).
7. Once cooked, roll the dumplings in toasted and chopped almonds and serve while warm. 🙂
Recipe created in collaboration with @ŽlicaŠećera ❤️
