Apple Dumplings with Miso Caramel Sauce

Up close of an apple dumpling being dipped in caramel with chopsticks

Apple Dumplings with Miso Caramel Sauce

These crispy apple dumplings with miso caramel dip will take your new fall dessert recipes to the next level! This Asian fusion fall dumpling recipe will satisfy all of your warm apple spice cravings in delicious bite-sized portions.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Asian Fusion

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 45

Total Time 2 15

Servings Dumplings

Calories 318kcal

Author Take Two Eggs

Ingredients

Dumpling Wrapper

2 cup (283 g) all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
⅔ cup (170 g) boiling water (~212°F or 100°C)

Apple Filling

4 ½ cup (580 g) diced apples peeled and cut into 1/4 inch squares (honey crisp, pink lady, golden delicious)
1 tablespoon (16 g) lemon juice
⅓ cup (69 g) sugar
1 tablespoon (10 g) cornstarch
⅛ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon (5 g) vanilla extract
2 tablespoon (29 g) unsalted butter

Miso Caramel Dip

1 cup (210 g) granulated sugar
6 tablespoon (85 g) unsalted butter
½ cup (125 g) heavy cream
2 tablespoon (44 g) white miso

Frying

Vegetable oil depends on the size of your pot

Instructions

Dumpling Wrapper

Mix the flour and water together. Add flour and salt into the bowl of your stand mixer with a dough hook attachment or a large mixing bowl and mix with chopsticks. While the mixer is on low, slowly pour in the boiling water. Mix until the water is absorbed and the dough is combined and formed. The dough may be a little crumbly and dry.
Knead the dough. Transfer to a well-floured cooking surface and hand knead for another 5-8 minutes until dough is round and smooth. The dough should be soft, smooth, springy, and not stick to the bowl, and not too tender. Add flour if the dough is too soft and doesn't hold its shape. Add water if the dough doesn't come together.
Rest the dough. Place dough in a covered greased bowl or a medium ziplock bag, seal, and allow to rest and hydrate for at least 30 minutes. The dough can rest for up to 2 hours before being used.

Apple Filling

Peel, core, and dice your apples, then toss with the lemon juice. Add the sugar then toss to combine evenly.
In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the apples, and cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture begins to simmer about 2 minutes. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and cook until the apples soften and release most of their juices, about 5 minutes. Once the apples are cooked down, add in the corn starch and salt and cook until the juices thicken.
In a medium bowl, toss the apples with the reduced juice, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside to cool completely.

Miso Caramel Dip

In a heavy saucepan on medium heat, add the sugar. Swirl the pan every few minutes or so to heat the sugar evenly. BUT DO NOT STIR. The sugar will form clumps before melting. Once it begins to clump you can take a whisk and occasionally stir the sugar every few minutes. It will melt in about 10-15 minutes. Once the sugar has melted and amber brown remove it from the heat.
Once melted, immediately whisk in the butter. Be careful the mixture will violently bubble. Once combined, the texture should be thicker. Next, add in the heavy cream and whisk until combined. If the caramel hardens with the addition of the cold cream, place the pan over low heat and stir until the caramel is melted liquid again. Whisk in the miso until combined. Allow it to cool slightly before pouring into a lidded heat-proof container. Store in the refrigerator.

Assemble

Divide the dough. Lightly flour your work surface. Remove dough and cut the dough in half and keep one half in the bag/bowl. Roll out one-half of your dough into a 1” thick rope. Cut into 16 equal pieces about 2 cm long.
Roll dough into a disc. Place all the pieces of dough in the ziplock bag to prevent drying out. On a floured work surface, roll 1 piece of dough into a circle and then flatten it out with a small rolling pin into a 3.5”-4” disc. The dough will be very thin. Try to roll the dough out so the edges are slightly thinner than the center.
Fill and pleat. Place a tablespoon of filling in the center of your round dumpling wrapper, avoid overfilling. Fold the dumpling in half like a taco and pinch together in the center leaving the sides not pinched. Start pleating to the left of the center pinch and seal it to the right. Continue gathering dough and sealing pleats until you reach the end, about 4 pleats. Repeat on the right side sealing the pleats to the left with another 4 pleats to form a "V" shape. Repeat with remaining dumplings and place dumplings on a lightly floured baking tray covered with a towel until ready to be cooked.

Fry the Dumplings

Heat vegetable oil in a heavy-bottomed pot deep enough to completely cover a dumpling to 350°F. Fry the dumplings in batches of about 5-10 at a time, until golden brown about 2-3 minutes, and drain on a paper towel-lined wire rack. Serve immediately with the miso caramel dipping sauce.

Notes

Dumpling Dough Tips

Homemade dough is always > store-bought. Homemade dough creates a fresher dumpling that holds in the flavors of the filling better than a thin store-bought wrapper. This dough is also made with only 3 pantry essential ingredients and is incredibly simple to make at home. Alternatively, you can use a thicker store-bought dumpling wrapper.
Make sure to use boiling water for the dumpling wrapper. The flour needs the hot boiling temperature (~212°F or 100°C) of the water to react properly and create the pliable dumpling dough that we need.

Cooking Tips

Cook the apples down until they are softened and the juices have been released. This allows you to cook the juices into a concentrate to add a deeper and richer apple flavor to your dumplings.
Do not leave your caramel sauce unattended! Caramel sugar can burn really quickly. You need to watch the sugar very closely to know when to remove it from the heat.
Do not overfill your dumplings! Use just enough to place in the center of the dumpling wrapper leaving enough room to pinch along the sides. You will know how much is too much with practice. If there is too much filling it will be hard to seal the dumpling without the filling oozing out.
Make sure to tightly pinch the edges of your dumpling to seal in the filling to prevent it from bursting. You don't want any rogue filling to be oozing out of your dumpling too early! If using store-bought wrappers, remember to wet the edges of the dumpling dough before pinching to seal the dumplings.
Use a thermometer when frying the dumplings! The oil temperature will fluctuate as you put in the batches of apple dumplings. Make sure to use a thermometer so that you can make sure the temperature stays at a consistent temperature. You want the oil to be hot enough (350°F) so that the apples turn out crisp and not oily. Too cold and the oil will seep through the dumpling and make the dumpling soggy.

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