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Germknödel

Austrian yeast dumpling filled with plum jam and served with vanilla sauce, sprinkled with poppyseeds
Prep Time 20 mins
Cook Time 20 mins
proofing time 1 hr 50 mins
Total Time 2 hrs 30 mins
Course Dessert
Cuisine Austrian
Servings 4

Equipment

  • Steamer basket or insert

Ingredients
  

For the Germknödel

  • 300 g flour plus more as needed
  • 1/2 cup milk, warm
  • 1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
  • 3 tbsp melted butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1 egg yolk
  • pinch of salt
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • plum jam I used about 1/2 cup
  • 2 Tbsp Poppyseeds
  • 1 bag of Vanilla sugar

For the vanilla sauce

  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste

Instructions
 

For the Germknödel

  • Warm up the milk so it is lukewarm and add a tablespoon of sugar to it and then the yeast.Let it sit for about 5 minutes.
    Mix the flour with rest of the sugar, pinch of salt then when the yeast blooms add it to the flour, as well as the egg, egg yolk and melted butter.
    Mix with a dough hook until it's starting to form into a ball, but sticky ball. It will still be sticking to the bottom of your mixer bowl and that is fine. Cover it and let it rest in a warm spot until doubled in size, for about one hour or a bit longer.
    Once it is doubled I carefully put it on a floured working surface and stretch it roughly into a rectangle, about one inch in thickness. I do this gently with my hands. Cut it into four pieces then put about 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of plum jam in the center of each piece. Carefully but thoroughly close up each piece while shaping it into a ball, the less you handle it the better, just make sure you seal it all good or it will unseal during second proof or steaming process.
    Cut 4 circles out of your parchment paper and carefully put each Germknödel seam down on its own piece of parchment paper on a large baking sheet. Cover and let proof for another 20-30 minutes.
    You will need some kind of steaming insert or basket for this. I have dumpling steamer baskets that go one on top of another so I was able to cook these two at a time. they need room to grow so don't crowd them.
    Boil some water in a pot and put your steaming baskets on top and carefully transfer the Germknödel on it together with its parchment paper. Cover and steam for 17 minutes. While they are steaming, prepare the vanilla sauce (or you can do this while the Germknödel are proofing, that is what I did.)

For the Vanilla sauce

  • Warm up the milk and the heavy cream in a sauce pot. While its getting hot, in a bowl whisk well the egg yolks and the sugar until frothy and pale in color. Once the milk is hot, while constantly whisking slowly pour the milk into the eggs, then once all is mixed, pour the sauce back into the sauce pan and add the vanilla bean paste. Constantly stir on low to medium low heat until the sauce starts to thicken, it will take about 5-7 minutes. You want the sauce to coat the back of the spoon nicely. Be very careful once you see it starting to thicken, it goes from beautiful sauce to scrambled eggs fast if you aren't careful. Yes. my first batch was scrambled eggs because I got a phone call and walked away for half a minute, ha! It will also slightly thicken as it cools so beware of that if you're making it in advance. I don't like making it too much in advance because I like it served slightly warm over the Germknödel, but I've successfully reheated leftovers in the microwave.
  • Grind up the poppyseeds (I use my mini ninja blender for this) and mix it with one bag of Vanilla sugar. Link for the one I use is higher up in the post.
    Serve the Germknödel in a bowl and pour a generous amount of vanilla sauce over the top. Sprinkle with poppyseeds and sugar and enjoy!
Keyword austrian food, dessert dumpling, dumplings, Germknödel, yeast dumpling, plum jam