Think of a sweet biscuit baked on a bed of luscious caramel resulting in a delicious dumpling infused with caramel and you’ve just imagined caramel dumplings.  My husband likes to top it with vanilla ice cream (as shown in the picture) but the rest of my family likes to just put some heavy cream on it.

This was my great grandmother’s recipe.  Her original hand written recipe included steps like “add enough flour to make a dumpling”.  After a few attempts, we figured out the measurements to make it a little more consistent and easier to make.

Caramel Dumplings

For the caramel:

1 1/2 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups hot water
3 Tbls. butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla

Melt 1/2 cup of the sugar in a heavy skillet until golden color.  Add the remaining ingredients, including the additional cup of sugar.  Don’t worry about the first 1/2 cup of sugar being hard - it will soften up.  Boil 10 minutes or until all of the sugar has melted. 

For the dumplings

1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbls. butter
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup milk (you may need more)

Cream the sugar and butter.  Sift the baking powder and flour and stir into the sugar and butter mixture.  Add the milk until it’s stiff enough to push off the spoon with your finger but it should be sticky.  Add more milk if you need to.

Drop dumplings (approximately eight) into the caramel mixture and bake 15 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees.  Serve warm.