Grandma Marie's Peach Dumplings

I have been thinking for awhile now that you can't have a farm story if you don't include the food, so today is the lucky day for my first recipe!  Anytime I start something new I have to start with a favorite, and this one probably is my top foods to eat, ever: Grandma Marie's Peach Dumplings.  

(Yummy Peach Dumplings)

These peach dumplings are a family heirloom- it's not my grandmother's recipe, but my grandmother's grandmother's recipe.  If it sounds like kind of a weird food it probably is, but my family is Czech, and apparently fruit dumplings are a common Czech food.  The dumplings are commonly made with peach, plum, strawberry or can be left "plain" and served with gravy.   I am the family's chief dumpling maker, so I have become pretty good at making the preferred variety for birthdays, and Christmas. At the grocery store last week (surprisingly, since it's February) there were some nice ripe peaches, so I made them as a special treat to go with the pork chops.

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt (you can add more to your taste)

1 egg

1/4-1/2 cup milk
flour to coat your hands

4 peaches

Toppings:
sugar
butter
cottage cheese

Prep:

1. Fill a large pot with water and begin heating to a boil.

2. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium size bowl (you can sift it if you feel like it needs it).

3. Make a "dent" in the center of the dry ingredients, and crack the egg into it.  Then beat the egg into the dry ingredients until it is a a crumbly texture.  This is similar to mixing butter into dry ingredients for a pie crust.

4. Start with a 1/4 cup of milk and stir in until all the dry ingredients are pulled together in a ball.  It should be the consistency of a really dry and sticky biscuit dough. You don't want to add too much milk!

(Perfect Dumpling Dough)

5. Separate the dough into four equal portions.  Take your washed peaches (whole, skin intact) and work one dough portion around each peach.  I usually flatten the dough between my hands and then wrap the peach like it is in a blanket.  You definitely want to flour your hands for this because things can get sticky fast.  Make sure to completely cover each peach in dough, and that all of the seams are pushed together.

6. Stick the dumplings into the now boiling pot of water.  They will sink right to the bottom, but use a spoon to pry them off and let them float at the top.  Keep the water boiling, and flip the dumplings after 10 minutes.  Boil an additional 10 minutes (20 minutes total cook time).

7. Remove dumplings from the pot and let them set for 5 minutes.  Then cut the dumpling in half and open it up to remove the peach pit.

8. Now sprinkle the peach with a little sugar, drizzle with melted butter and top with some cottage cheese.  It might sound weird, but it is a wonderful combination.