Welcome to the grannymartzapple treasure page

Welcome to the grannymartzapple TREASURE page.
The following illustrated instructions will guide you to the most mouthwatering apple dumplings known in the universe.

Here she is, our most famous Granny Martz. The following recipe is her secret trademark.

Enjoy the sweets!

Although it's not necessary, it is much more fun to find a tree and pick the apples yourself. Be sure they are sour, baking apples. Winesap and Macintosh apples work great.

Here we see Bruce from themathlab.com staff going all out for the pursuit of math treasure. After it was all done, he admitted it was kind of fun up in that tree.

We also recommend a group of friends be invited for the actual apple dumpling making extravaganza. It will fill a day with lots of mess and laughter. Teens and adults might find this a rather unique party adventure.

As you peel the apples, be sure to place them in a pot of cool water. This will keep them from getting brown. Some folks also put a big splash of lemon juice in the water to help keep the apples super white.

The recipe that follows will make this many dumplings. You can modify it to make various numbers as needed.

Dumpling Ingredients
*This will make 18-20 medium size dumplings.

5 cups flour
1.5 cups butter flavor shortening
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup of very cold water
8-10 medium, peeled, apples, cored and cut in half
cooking spray

Sauce Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup red-hot cinnamon candies
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups water

Mix the flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and shortening with a pastry blender or a fork or an egg whisp as in the picture.

Mix these until the shortening is thoroughly dispersed and the stuff looks like small peas or cornmeal.

Now slowly mix in the cold water a tablespoon at a time. The mixture will start to stick together.

Test it to see if it is ready by squeezing a handful. If it stays formed when squeezed, its ready.

Be sure to prepare your rolling surface with a dusting of flour. Some folks use a pastry cloth to roll out their dough.

A ball about the size of a baseball will yield three medium size dumplings.

Roll out your ball of dough with a floured rolling pin. It should be about 1/8 inch (3mm) thick.

Next cut the dough into three parts. Adjust the pieces to fit your apple sizes.

Use a spatula to lift the pieces one at a time.

Place your apple half in the center. You can use a whole apple if your apple is rather small. Use your own judgment. It's usually good to have a variety of sizes in your batch. Some folks like the huge ones and some the tiny ones.

Pinch the dough shut around the apple.

Place pinched side down, onto a greased or sprayed pan. You can use pie plates or a a 9x13 baking pan.

*NOTE: At this point, you can also put each individual dumpling into a plastic sandwich bag and throw them in the freezer. They freeze very well. Just take them out as you need them. Granny Martz usually makes @ 200 dumplings and then freezes them to last all year.

These should be pretty close together but not touching.

Bring the sauce ingredients to a rolling boil being sure to stir constantly.

When the sauce is boiling, pour it over your dumplings and bake them at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 1.5 hours.

Clean the pan immediately. If you don't, the sugar will stick like a rock!

Be sure to check on them periodically, because all ovens are different. You will know they are done when the sauce is bubbly and the dumplings are golden brown.

Be sure to serve them fresh out of the oven or place them into individual bowls immediately to be served later. The sauce will harden in the pan if you don't get it cleaned out while it's still hot.

Granny Martz always pours the extra sauce over the tops as she serves them.

Here we see a group taking a baking break to test the results.