Marillenknödel are one of the most popular Austrian dishes. They consist of apricots covered with soft and fluffy cheese dough and topped with breadcrumb cinnamon sugar topping. They are quick to prepare and make a light and delicious summer dinner or dessert.
For more authentic Austrian and German recipes, check out this page: Austrian and German cuisine.
Marillenknödel – what does it mean?
Marillen means apricots in the German language, while Knödel means round-shaped dumplings.
Ingredients
Below you will find information about the ingredients and how to prepare the recipe. For the measurements and detailed instructions scroll down to the printable recipe card.
Here’s what you need to make this easy recipe:
Marillenknödel recipe consists of 3 parts:
1) THE DOUGH
There are two types of dough used in this recipe:
- Cheese dough – is made with Topfen cheese – it’s equivalent of German Quark and American cream cheese. Use Topfen or Quark if you can find them, but if not, just use cream cheese. Cream cheese dough tastes more neutral while Topfen dough has a slight tang to it.
- Potato dough – made with cooked and mashed potatoes.
I prefer cheese dough over potato dough. It’s quicker to make and tastes better (at least for me), it has a tangier taste and it’s softer. I’m using potato dough if I have leftover mashed potatoes. If you want to make potato dough, you can use this recipe for Polish plum dumplings (knedle) – it’s the same as an Austrian recipe for potato dough.
2) FRUIT (filling) – apricots are obviously most often used but other fruit such as plums or strawberries are also used. Make sure to use ripe fruit! Apricots are used whole and stuffed with sugar cubes.
Sometimes a chocolate or nougat cube is inserted in the middle of the apricots instead of sugar cubes.
3) TOPPING – cooked dumplings are coated in a mixture of sweetened pan-fried breadcrumbs.
Dough-to-filling ratio
The dough-to-filling ratio depends on your preferences. For this amount of dough, I like to use 8 small to medium apricots. On the photos, dumpling with large apricots are shown, simply because this is what I got in my grocery store on the day of making photos for this post. I prefer a little bit more dough on my dumplings than shown on the photos. If you only have large apricots, you can divide the dough into 6 and not 8 parts.
Step-by-step instructions
These are complete instructions with step-by-step photos showing how to make apricot dumplings. Scroll down for a printable recipe card.
Start with making the dough:
From all the ingredients only the butter needs to be soft, so that it can be easily incorporated with the other ingredients. All the other ingredients should be cold, straight from the fridge.
- Add 4 tablespoons (2oz/60g) of soft butter, 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt to a medium bowl and whisk until combined (or just stir with a spatula or a spoon).
- Add 1 large egg and 1 cup (8oz/225g) cream cheese/Topfen, whisk until combined (lumps are fine).
- Add 1 cup (4.5oz/130g) of flour and stir with a spatula/spoon until combined. Don’t stir for too long. The dough should be lightly sticky. If the dough is very very sticky (this will depend on the kind of cheese you’ve used) you can add 1-2 tablespoons of flour, but remember it will be much easier to handle after it has rested in the fridge. The dough should not be too dry and not sticky.
How to measure flour: if you use a kitchen scale to measure out all the ingredients, it all goes easy breezy! But if you’re using measuring cups, remember that 1 cup of flour can weigh 120-150g, depending on how you’re filling your cup. Don’t scoop the flour directly into the measuring cup, which can compact it! 1 cup of flour in my recipes weighs 125g. To correctly measure the flour, you need to:
- Fluff the flour by stirring it in the bag/flour container with a spoon.
- Spoon the flour and sprinkle it into your measuring cup.
- Sweep off the excess flour with the back of a knife.
4. Scoop out the dough from the bowl onto a piece of plastic foil. Wrap the dough in plastic foil and form a round disk. Put in the fridge for 30 minutes (or longer, even overnight). While the dough is chilling, prepare the apricots.
Shape the dumplings:
5. Take the dough out of the fridge, sprinkle it with flour, and divide with a knife or a bench scraper into 8 parts (if you have very large apricots, divide the dough into 6 parts).
6. Lightly dust your counter/silicone rolling mat with flour. Place the first part of the dough and sprinkle it with more flour. Dust your hands in flour.
Fill the apricots with sugar cubes:
7. You will need 8 small or medium apricots. Large can used be used but I prefer smaller apricots for this amount of dough. Cut the apricots in half and remove the stone. Place a cube of sugar in place of the stone, press the two apricot halves together until the apricot closes. Set aside.
8. Place one apricot in the middle of the dough and press the dough around the apricot, seal well. You should not be able to see the seam. Place the dumplings on a floured plate.
How to avoid sticking the dough to your hands: make sure the dough is cold and dust the dough and your hands with flour.
Cook the dumplings:
9. Cook the dumplings in a large amount of salted water, about 4-5 dumplings at a time (a larger and wider pot is preferred). Throw them into boiling and salted water and cook for about 12 minutes (from the moment you’ve put them in water). Reduce the heat to medium-low, the water should only simmer. After a couple of minutes try to stir the dumplings carefully with a spoon as they tend to stick to the bottom of the pot sometimes.
10. Take the cooked dumplings out of the water with a slotted spoon, drain well.
Make the breadcrumb topping:
11. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a medium pan, when it’s bubbling add 1/2 cup (2 oz/55g) breadcrumbs. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring very frequently, until the breadcrumbs are golden brown in color (be careful, they can burn quickly).
12. Take the pan off the heat and stir in 2 tablespoons of light brown sugar and a big pinch of cinnamon.
Coat the dumplings with the breadcrumb sugar topping:
13. Place hot dumplings in the pan with the breadcrumb topping. Roll dumplings in the breadcrumbs until coated on all sides.
Serve: Place dumplings on plates and sprinkle with icing sugar. Enjoy!
Serving suggestions
Apricot dumplings are most often served as on the photos, just sprinkled with powdered sugar. Soft apricots provide enough liquid so that the dumplings don’t feel dry, but you could also serve them with:
- vanilla ice cream (a small suggestion – the Austrian way of topping vanilla ice cream is to pour some pumpkin seed oil over it, I know how it sounds, but it surprisingly tastes amazing)
- apricot sauce – puree some apricots in a blender/food processor and cook them for a couple of minutes with some sugar until a thick sauce forms
- whipped cream
- chocolate sauce
Storage
These dumplings taste best fresh. If you want to store them you need to do that before coating them with the breadcrumb topping. You can steam them the next day or pop them into boiling water for about 30-60 seconds. Then, while they are still hot, roll them in the breadcrumb topping.
Freezing: I must admit I haven’t tried freezing these dumplings myself but I’m quite sure it’s possible since frozen apricot dumplings are widely available in every grocery store in Austria. The dumplings are frozen without the breadcrumb coating, cooked in boiling water, then rolled into freshly prepared breadcrumb coating.
Did you make this recipe? RATE THE RECIPE or tell me in the COMMENTS how you liked it! You can also add a photo of your dish. It would make me very happy and will help other readers. Thank you!!
Marillenknödel (Austrian Apricot Dumplings)
Ingredients
for the dough:
- 4 tablespoons butter 2oz/60g, soft
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 1 cup cream cheese or Topfen 8oz/225g, cold
- 1 large egg cold
- 1 cup flour 4.5oz/130g, + more for shaping the dumplings
additionally:
- 8 small or medium apricots or 6 large apricots
- 8 sugar cubes
for the breadcrumb topping:
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs 2oz/55g
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar or granulated sugar
- a big pinch of cinnamon
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Instructions
Make the dough:
- Add the soft butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt to a medium bowl and whisk until combined (or just stir with a spatula or a spoon).
- Add the egg and cheese, whisk until combined (lumps are fine).
- Add the flour and stir with a spatula/spoon until combined. Don't stir for too long. The dough should be slightly sticky. If the dough is very very sticky (this will depend on the kind of cheese you've used) you can add 1-2 tablespoons of flour, but remember it will be much easier to handle after it has rested in the fridge. The dough should not be too dry and completely not sticky.
- Scoop out the dough from the bowl onto a piece of plastic foil. Wrap the dough in plastic foil and form a round disk. Put in the fridge for 30 minutes (or longer, even overnight).
- While the dough is chilling, prepare the apricots and the breadcrumb topping.
Apricots:
- Cut the apricots in half and remove the stone.
- Place a cube of sugar in place of the stone, press the two apricot halves together until the apricot closes. Set aside.
Make the breadcrumb topping:
- Melt the butter in a medium pan, when it’s bubbling add the breadcrumbs.
- Cook over medium-low heat, stirring very frequently, until the breadcrumbs are golden brown in color (be careful, they can burn quickly).
- Take the pan off the heat and stir in the sugar and cinnamon.
Shape the dumplings:
- Take the dough out of the fridge, sprinkle it with flour, and divide with a knife or a bench scraper into 8 parts (if you have very large apricots, divide the dough into 6 parts).
- Sprinkle your counter or a silicone rolling mat with some flour. Place one part of the dough on the surface and sprinkle it with some more flour. Dust your hands with flour. Flatten the piece of dough and take it in your hand. Place one apricot in the middle of the dough and press the dough around the apricot, seal well. You should not be able to see the seam. Place the dumplings on a floured plate.
Cook the dumplings:
- Cook the dumplings in a large amount of salted water, about 4-5 dumplings at a time (a large and wide pot is preferred). Throw them into boiling water and cook for about 12 minutes (from the moment you've put them in water). Reduce the heat to medium-low, the water should only simmer. After a couple of minutes, try to stir the dumplings carefully with a spoon as they tend to stick to the bottom of the pot.
- Take the cooked dumplings out of the water with a slotted spoon, drain well.
Coat the dumplings with the breadcrumb sugar topping:
- Place the hot dumplings in the pan with the breadcrumb topping. Roll the dumplings in the breadcrumbs until coated on all sides.
Serve:
- Transfer dumplings to plates and sprinkle with icing sugar.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- How to avoid sticking the dough to your hands: make sure the dough is cold and dust the flour and your hands with flour.
- For the perfect dough-to-filling ratio use 8 small-to-medium apricots or 6 large ones.
- You can also use small plums or strawberries.
- Calories = whole recipe. This is only an estimate!
8 Comments
Collin
20 July 2024 at 04:54These were really good! I had too many apricots from the neighbor’s tree so the recipe was perfect. Instead of sugar cubes, I put a filling made out of goat cheese, honey, dates, pistachios and lime zest. Delicious.
Also tried freezing them before boiling. A little difficult to guess when they were ready but 15 minutes seemed the best.
Aleksandra
20 July 2024 at 12:40That must have been good! great idea for the filling. Thank you for sending the photo!
Janet
5 September 2023 at 23:43My husband’s Oma used to make these all of the time so I wanted to make them for him. I followed all of the directions. Unfortunately, the dough came off of my apricots during the boiling stage. Any hints as to what I may have done wrong?
Aleksandra
6 September 2023 at 19:34I’m sorry to hear that. This has never happened to me, so I’m not 100% sure what caused this.
Possible reasons that come to my mind:
– either the dough was too wet and just fell apart (have you measured all the ingrediets correctly?)
– the tempeature of the water was either too high (the water was boiling rapidly) or too low (the temperature can get too low if you add too many dumplings at once to the water).
Next time, you can try cooking just 1 dumpling at a time to test how to cook them in your kitchen.
Please let me know if you have any more questions.
Helga Hall
23 August 2023 at 13:20Everyone loved the Dumplings, first time i made them, i am from Vienna , my Mother always made them. Very easy Recipe , thank u
Aleksandra
23 August 2023 at 15:43I’m glad you liked the recipe, thank you for leaving the comment!
L
22 February 2023 at 21:34actually, marillen are a fruit related to apricots. apricot in german is aprikose.
Aleksandra
23 February 2023 at 07:37This is not true, Marillen are Aprikosen but in Austrian version of the German language. This is an Austrian recipe.