If you liked my Pennsylvania Dutch Apple Dumplings, think of this as their cozy, nutty cousin. The secret is brown butter, and it shows up twice!

What Ingredients Do You Need To Make Brown Butter Apple Dumplings?

• Store-bought Puff Pastry
• Honeycrisp Apples
• Butter
• Brown Sugar
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Eggs
• Vanilla Extract (or Paste)

How Do You Make Brown Butter Apple Dumplings?

Preheat the oven to 375 and butter a 9×13 dish. Then brown the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, swirling often, until it turns amber and smells nutty. That flavor comes from the milk solids toasting in the pan, so watch closely, since it goes from browned to burnt fast. Let it cool slightly, then stir a couple of tablespoons into the brown sugar, nutmeg, and salt to make a thick paste.

Next, roll out the pastry and cut six squares, each big enough to wrap an apple completely. Set an apple in the middle of each one and pack the hollow core with that brown butter paste. Push a cinnamon stick down through the center, leaving the top poking out like a little stem. It flavors the apple from the inside out, and it looks adorable. Gather the pastry up and around the apple and pinch it firmly at the top so it stays sealed in the oven.

Nestle the dumplings into the dish, brush them with egg wash, and sprinkle with coarse sugar for shine and a little crunch.

For the sauce, brown more butter, then whisk in brown sugar, water, and vanilla and bring it to a simmer. Pour it around the dumplings rather than over them, so the tops stay crisp while the bottoms soak up all that caramel. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, basting once or twice, until the pastry is deep golden and a knife slides easily into the apples. Let them rest for 10 minutes so the sauce can thicken up.