Polish Strawberry Dumplings (Knedle z Truskawkami)

No ratings yet

Prep Time20

Cook Time10

chilling time30

Total Time1

Servings: servings

Add all the ingredients for the dough (except the strawberries) to a medium bowl. Knead by hand or use a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until a smooth dough forms. The dough will be sticky.
2 cups (250g) flour, spooned and leveled, 2 large eggs, 12 1/2 ounces (350g) cream cheese, 3 tablespoons (42g) melted butter, 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/4 teaspoon salt
Spread the dough in the bowl, covering its sides so that every part of the dough is of a more uniform thickness. This will help it chill more uniformly (see photos in the body of the post for reference). Cover with a kitchen cloth and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
In the meantime, prepare all the other ingredients.

Wash the strawberries (for the dumplings), remove the tops, and pat dry with paper towels.
14 medium-sized strawberries
Make the strawberry sauce: Clean the strawberries (for the sauce), remove the tops, and blend in a food processor or blender with powdered sugar until smooth.
1/2 lb (225g) strawberries, 1/2 tablespoon powdered sugar
Make the fried breadcrumbs: Melt butter in a small saucepan. When melted, add the breadcrumbs and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring often, until golden brown. Take the pot off the heat and stir in brown sugar.
1/4 cup (45g) fine breadcrumbs, 6 tablespoons (85g) butter, 1 tablespoon brown sugar
Make sweetened sour cream: In a small bowl, combine sour cream with powdered sugar.
1/2 cup (120g) sour cream, 1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Start heating salted water in a large pot.
Sprinkle your counter or a silicone rolling mat with flour. Scoop out a heaped tablespoon of dough onto the floured surface, dust your hands with flour, and flatten the dough into a circle. Place 1 strawberry over the dough, take it in your hand, press the dough around the strawberry, and seal well. You should not be able to see the seam. Place the dumpling on a floured plate. Repeat with the remaining ingredients, you should have 14 dumplings.
Cook the dumplings in batches, about 4 at a time if you have a medium pot, and about 7 if you have a large pot. When the water comes to a boil, reduce the heat to medium, add in the dumplings, then reduce the heat to low. The water should barely boil. Cook them for about 8-10 minutes or until they come to the surface. For slightly larger dumplings you may need to cook them about 1 minute longer after they've come to the surface. If you're not sure, cook 1 test dumpling and cut it in half - you should not see any raw dough around the strawberry. After 1-2 minutes of cooking, try to stir the dumplings carefully with a wooden spoon so they don't stick to the bottom of the pot.
Take the cooked dumplings out of the water with a slotted spoon and drain well.
Serve with strawberry sauce, fried breadcrumbs, and sweetened sour cream.
Enjoy!

To make these dumplings, very often a mashed potato-based dough is being used. If you'd like to try that, you can find the recipe here: polish plum dumplings. Plums are another very popular summer fruit to use in these dumplings.
Sweet fried breadcrumbs and sweetened sour cream are almost always served with these dumplings so please don't omit them. Strawberry sauce is not traditional, but recommended!
This dish is only lightly sweetened, it is not sweet as a dessert because it's not eaten in Poland as a dessert but rather as a light summer dinner, more on the sweet side, than savory. If you'd like it sweeter, you can sweeten all the components more to your liking, you can also sprinkle some sugar over the strawberries before wrapping them with the dough.