Dear Chattanoogans, your social media posts bidding the summer farewell are stressing me out. Fall does not begin until Sept. 22. Please just let me relish these last 26 days.
But I do get that for many, summer unofficially ends when students return to school. And I'd be lying if I said I hadn't found comfort in those first cool evening breezes.
The end of summer always feels like such a reflective time. As I write this letter I am remembering the late Augusts of my childhood, when my father would turn our kitchen into a brown sugar-scented apple dumpling factory. Every day, I would come home from school to find the countertops covered in cooling racks.
My dad's baked apple dumplings certainly helped sweeten my transition between seasons, and perhaps it will do the same for you. Here is my dad's recipe.
BAKED APPLE DUMPLINGS
What you need:
- 6 medium-sized Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored
Sugar filling
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup brown sugar
Dough
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- cup milk
- 8 tablespoons butter
- teaspoon salt
What you do:
- Heat oven to 400 F. In a small bowl, combine sugar filling ingredients.
- In a separate bowl, mix dough ingredients together. Roll out dough to 1/8- to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into 6 pieces, making each piece large enough to wrap around one apple.
- Place an apple on each piece of dough. Fill cored center of apple with sugar filling. Top with a dab of butter.
- Place dough-wrapped apples in a baking pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes.