Old-Fashioned Apple Dumplings Recipe

If you're in need of an impressive dessert fit for a crowd, these baked, old-fashioned apple dumplings are for you! Because these apples are individually wrapped in pie dough, they make for an easy dessert for a group gathering. And best yet, they can be made in under an hour, and require only a handful of ingredients.

Recipe developer, Jessica Morone, says "You should definitely make these, they are super easy and they taste kind of like a Cinnabon, except since there's an apple inside, you can pretend it's healthy!" And to that point, if there's fruit inside, we can eat it for breakfast, too, right? 

Frankly, fruit-filled desserts are some of our favorites — we love peach cobbler, cherry bars, lemon pound cake — and now we have old-fashioned apple dumplings to add to the list. 

Morone recommends topping them with "vanilla ice cream, especially when the dumplings are warm right out of the oven. Cool whip or regular whipped cream would also work really well with the dumplings."

To make these old-fashioned apple dumplings, you can start by gathering your ingredients. For this recipe, you will need apples, pie dough, sugar, cinnamon, unsalted butter, apple cider, and brown sugar. Morone loves using apple cider in the sauce. She tells us "a lot of the standard recipes for apple dumplings just use water in the sauce, but apple cider really amps up the apple flavor and makes the sauce even more delicious."

First things first, preheat the oven to 350 F and spray a 9x13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Then, peel and core the apples. Morone recommends using Granny Smith apples, as "they are the best apple for baking. They are tart and don't get too soft when you bake them. But you can use any variety of apples, really."

Next, unroll the refrigerated pie dough and roll out the dough into a rectangle shape. Slice the dough into 6 equal pieces that will be large enough to fit around each apple.

Now, it is time to assemble the apple dumplings. Place an apple in the center of each piece of dough. Then, make a quick cinnamon-sugar sprinkle by mixing the sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon in a small bowl. Place ½ tablespoon butter into each apple core, then top off each core with a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar. With the apples filled, wrap the dough around the apples and press the dough together at the top to stay put. Place each apple dumpling in the prepared baking dish.

Now, make the sauce by adding the remaining cinnamon, butter, apple cider, and brown sugar to a saucepan. Bring this mixture to a boil, making sure to stir it often. When the sauce is boiling, remove it from the heat and pour it over the apple dumplings. Place the baking dish in the oven for 35-40 minutes, until the dough is golden brown. Once baked, it's finally time to dive in.

If you have any leftovers, Morone tells us they "keep pretty well. Just cover the dumplings and put them in the fridge and they should be good for about 3-4 days. I suggest warming them in the microwave before eating leftovers because these are definitely better warm."