Old-Fashioned Southern Peaches & Dumplings?

By msippigrl

The kind your grandma made! Homemade dumplings are cut and dropped into boiling peaches and syrup.?These dumplings are soft and chewy, meaning they won't fall apart during cooking. Delicious with vanilla ice cream, with whipping cream or chilled evaporated milk poured over it, or topped with prepared whipped cream or Cool Whip.

Ingredients

• PEACHES:
• 3 (29-ounce) cans sliced peaches in heavy syrup (I used Delmonte)
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cans water (use a peach can)
• Juice from one large lemon (4 to 5 tablespoons)
• 6 tablespoons salted butter, cut into cubes
• DUMPLING DOUGH:
• 3 cups self-rising flour (I used Gold Medal)
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening (I used Crisco)
• 3/4 to 1 cup ice cold water, as needed

Preparation

Step 1

Measure the flour and shortening into a large mixing bowl and place bowl in the freezer until needed.

Set a colander in a large pot or Dutch oven and add the peaches to the colander, straining the liquid into the pot. Set peaches aside for now.

To the pot of liquid, whisk in the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, water, lemon juice, and butter cubes. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; then reduce heat to medium and cook for about 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the Dumplings:

Remove bowl from freezer and cut the shortening into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter until you get a mealy consistency (fine crumbs). Gradually, drizzle in ice water while stirring, just enough for the dough to come together and form a ball. Divide the dough into 2 pieces.

After the peach liquid has boiled for 25 minutes, add the peaches to it and bring back to a boil over medium-high heat. When boiling, reduce heat to medium and let cook until the dumplings are ready to drop.

On a floured surface, roll out one of the balls of dough to about 1/8-inch thick. Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut the dough into long strips about 1 1/2-inch wide; then cut each strip crosswise into 1 1/2-inch squares. Repeat steps for the other ball of dough.

Start dropping the dumplings into the boiling peaches and syrup; gently pushing them down into syrup with the back of a spoon.

When all the dumplings have been added, let cook for about 25 minutes, frequently pushing dumplings down into the syrup. When done, the dumplings should look somewhat translucent and the syrup is thickened.

Serve warm or cold with whipping cream or chilled evaporated milk poured over it, topped with prepared whipped cream (or Cool Whip), or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

NOTE:
If your dumplings are a bit thick, you might need to cover the pot and cook for about 10 minutes, then finish cooking uncovered. I did not cover mine since I wanted the syrup to thicken more.