Unlike many Australians, I didn’t grow up eating golden syrup
dumplings. Dessert at my house was a pared-back affair – maybe
a piece of fruit, or a few slices of orange. Perhaps it was this dessert
drought that made me into a non-dessert person. I can happily
go days and days without eating anything sweet, but there are a
few desserts that are my undoing. This is one of them. It was my
husband Ross who first introduced me to these incredible pillowy
sweet dumplings. He learnt the recipe from his mum, who is really
the queen of simple, minimal-effort, maximum-comfort desserts.
These light and fluffy dumplings are perfect for soaking up the
treacly, delicious golden syrup sauce. My personal touch is the
addition of banana, which amps up the caramel flavour.
INGREDIENTS
150g (1 1/2 cups) self-raising flour
50g butter, at room temperature, cut into small pieces
1 egg
80ml (1/3 cup) milk
1 banana (about 120g), mashed
vanilla ice-cream, to serve
For the syrup:
50g butter
165g (3/4 cup) brown sugar
3 tablespoons golden syrup
(can be substituted for honey or maple syrup)
TIP: the dumpling dough is best made just before serving.
HOW TO
Place the flour in a bowl and add the butter. Using your fingertips,
rub the butter into the flour until the mixture has a coarse,
sand- like consistency.
Beat the egg together with the milk until combined, then stir in
the mashed banana. Pour the egg mixture into the butter and flour
mixture and stir together to make a wet dough.
To make the syrup, in a large, wide saucepan, melt the butter over
a low heat. Add the sugar, golden syrup and 500ml (2 cups) of water
and stir until combined.
Bring the syrup to the boil, then use a tablespoon to drop a golf
ball-sized dumpling straight into the pan. Repeat until you’ve used
all the dough – you should have around 8 to 10 large dumplings.
Reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for 15 minutes, until the
dumplings are puffed up and a skewer inserted into the centre of
one of them comes out clean.
To serve, place 1 to 2 dumplings in a small bowl alongside some
vanilla ice-cream. Top with some of the syrup from the pan and
scoff immediately. Serves 4-5nothing says ‘yum’ like banana
golden syrup dumplings.
WORDS AND RECIPEHETTY MCKINNONPHOTO LUISA BRIMBLEdough the
right thing
Family by Hetty McKinnon is out now
through Plum. As a special treat, we have
five copies (worth $39.99 each) to give
away, so head to frankie.com.au/win to
enter. Recipe has been tweaked a little to
fit frankie formatting.pots and pans