Learn how to make these delicious soft and fruity Marillenknödel that are so popular in Bavaria, Austria, and Bohemia. These dumplings are made from dough, filled with apricots, and rolled in toasted breadcrumbs. Nothing better to celebrate this summer than this soul food.
Marillenknödle can be made with potato dough, choux pastry, or quark dough (Tropfenteig in Austrian). This recipe uses quark dough, but do not worry, I have tested a recipe with a substitute for quark.
What is the difference between Marillen and Aprikosen
You might be confused as to why these dumplings are called "Marillenknödel" and not "Aprikosenknödel". "Marille" is the Austrian and Bavarian word for apricots. In the rest of Germany the name "Aprikose" is more common. However, the terms are synonymous.
In Germany the apricot season starts in late June and until August. Apricot, especially as a jam, is a favorite breadspread but also used to flavour cakes and pastries such as my Swiss Carrot Cake, or my Nussecken.
These popular Austrian and German dumplings are filled in the later summer with plums. It is more or less the same recipe. These plum dumplings are called Zwetschgenknödel.
How to substitute the quark in dough!
This recipe uses a quark dough. Quark is a dairy product made from soured milk, that is very popular in Germany. It is used in dips such as quark dip, spundekäs, and German cheesecake.
I have tested different methods to substitute the quark and found that a mixture of Greek yogurt and cream cheese creates a similar texture
How to make Marillenknödel
Do not be intimidated by these scrumptious apricot-filled dumplings. They are surprisingly easy to make - and even easier to eat!
Apricot Dumpling Ingredients
For the dough: butter, sugar, salt, egg, flour, and quark,
If quark is not easily available where you are based, you can use a mixture of Greek yogurt (with around a 10% fat content) and cream cheese.
Apricot filling: Just apricots and sugar. Usually, you would place a sugar cube inside the destoned apricot. But a spoonful of sugar has the same effect.
Breadcrumbs: The breadcrumbs are toasted in a pan with butter and sugar.
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Apricot Dumpling Recipe Steps:
Whisk together the butter, sugar, and salt using a hand or stand mixer until creamy. Carefully mix in the egg and quark (or cream cheese - Greek yogurt mixture).
Lastly, add the flour to the bowl and combine it into a homogenous dough. The dough will be sticky but do not worry. If you add too much flour to the dough, it will become hard, we are aiming for a soft dough.
Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and place it in the fridge to rest for around 30 minutes.
Wash the apricots. Make a lengthwise incision on one side and remove the stone from the inside. Fill the core of the apricot teaspoon with a teaspoon of sugar. Set aside.
Once the dough is finished resting in the fridge we can start making the dumplings. Because the dough is sticky, it is best to work with wet hands. Keep a bowl of water by your side, so you can wet your hands again, should they become dry. Take an apricot, wrap dough around it, and form it into a ball. Ensure that you close the seams of the dough well as otherwise they might open in the water. Repeat until all the dough is used up. (The apricots will all be different sizes, and it will be impossible to get evenly shaped dumplings, so please do not worry if they are different or not perfectly round.) Leave your raw dumplings to rest on a plate for a further 30 minutes at room temperature.
Place the dumplings into the water and leave to simmer for about 10 minutes. You might have to do this in batches depending on the size of your pot.
In a frying pan melt the butter. Then add the breadcrumbs and fry until golden brown. Remove from the heat.
Once the dumplings are cooked, remove them with a slotted spoon. Add them to the pan with the breadcrumbs and roll them around until coated.
How to serve
You can serve these apricot dumplings as a sweet lunch, or a delicious dessert. If you like you can just dust them with some powdered sugar, or you can serve them with vanilla sauce. Here is my recipe for homemade German vanilla sauce.
Storage
These Austrian apricot dumplings taste best the day they are cooked. However, you can prepare them in advance, reheat them in some water or steam, and then coat them in crispy breadcrumbs.
You can also freeze them cooked or uncooked before they are coated in the breadcrumbs. Then reheat them in steak or boiling water and add them to the toasted breadcrumbs before serving.
Recipe
Apricot Dumplings (Marillenknödel)
Ingredients
For the dough
- ⅛ cups (100 g) butter
- 2 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 egg medium size, at room temperature
- 1 cups (250 g) quark Substitute with 125g ( ½ cup cream cheese and 125g / ½ cup Greek yoghurt
- 1 cups (150 g) flour
For the filling
- 8 apricots 8-10 is a guide. The exact amount depends on the size of your apricots
For the breadcrumb coat
- 1 cups (200 gr) breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoon sugar
Instructions
- Whisk together the butter, sugar, and salt using a hand or stand mixer until creamy. Carefully mix in the egg and quark/ or cream cheese - Greek yogurt mixture.⅛ cups butter, 2 tablespoon granulated sugar , 1 pinch salt , 1 egg, 1 cups quark
- Add the flour to the bowl and combine it into a homogenous dough. The dough will be sticky but do not worry. If you add too much flour to the dough, it will become hard, we are aiming for a soft dough.1 cups flour
- Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and place it in the fridge to rest for around 30 minutes.
Preparing the apricots
- Wash the apricots. Make a lengthwise incision on one side and remove the stone from the inside. Fill the core of the apricot teaspoon with a teaspoon of sugar. Set aside.8 apricots
- Once the dough is finished resting in the fridge we can start making the dumplings. Because the dough is sticky, it is best to work with wet hands. Keep a bowl of water by your side, so you can wet your hands again, should they become dry. Take an apricot, wrap dough around it, and form it into a ball. Ensure that you close the seams of the dough well, as otherwise, they might open in the water. Repeat until all the dough is used up. (The apricots will all be different sizes, and it will be impossible to get evenly shaped dumplings, so please do not worry if they are different or not perfectly round.) Leave your raw dumplings to rest on a plate for a further 30 minutes at room temperature.
- In the meantime, heat water with ½ teaspoon of salt in a large pot. There should be enough water in the pot to coat the dumplings. Once the water is boiling, reduce the heat, as the dumplings are supposed to only simmer not wildly boil.
- Place the dumplings into the water and leave to simmer for about 10 minutes. You might have to do this in batches depending on the size of your pot.
- In a separate frying pan melt the butter. Then add the sugar and breadcrumbs and fry until golden brown. Remove from the heat.1 cups breadcrumbs , 2 tablespoon butter
- Once the dumplings are cooked, remove them with a slotted spoon. Add them to the pan with the breadcrumbs and roll them around until coated.
- Serve warm with vanilla sauce
Video
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Nutrition
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Tammy says
When I was a kid, our neighbours were Austrian, and they used to invite me for dinner sometimes, especially when they were having these dumplings. They used whipped cottage cheese instead of quark in the dough, and I don’t recall the crispy outer coating, I’m fairly certain we just had lashings of powdered sugar. Also, the pits were left in the fruit, you just popped them out when you were eating. And mostly we had plums instead of apricots. Such good memories!
Marita Sinden says
Sounds delicious and great idea using cottage cheese to substitute the quark.
Connie says
In regards to the Quark problem: I live overseas as well and found that ricotta is not a bad substitute. If it is too dry and firm, add some yoghurt or a little bit of milk or sour cream.
My other favourite substitute is "Farm Cheese". It is much harder and drier than ricotta, so you need to add yoghurt and or milk or sour cream. You need a good blender to make the mix creamy and smooth.
The other option which comes very close is to mix farm cheese and very fresh, soft ricotta. (Again, you need a strong blender to make it really smooth). The woman in the cheese factory told me to try it.
One more option is an Eastern European cheese called tvorog, again you need to blend it and smooth it out.
Marita Sinden says
THanks for the tips, I will try it next time.
Tammy says
As a kid, our Austrian neighbours used to use whipped cottage cheese instead the dough. Much easier to find.
Ulli Stanway says
These Marillenknoedel are super delicious! 😋 I’m originally from Salzburg, Austria and live in Australia. Oh my! These dumplings reminded me so much of home, the first bites made me teary (in all the right ways). Thank you for this fabulous recipe ❤️
Marita Sinden says
Hi Ulli! Yay! I am glad I could bring a priece of home to you!
Best Wishes
Marita