Bavarian steam dumplings are closely related to yeast dumplings, but they are not cooked under steam in a steamer, but simmered in a large and deep pan in a mixture of milk, butter and sugar (so strange name, huh? :))

During this process, the lid supposedly must not be opened during the entire cooking time, because otherwise the steamed dumplings may collapse. Well, I probably won’t try it, but will just let them closed. But it helps considerably if you have a glass lid for the pan :).

When it comes to recipes on the internet, the quantities in particular vary significantly as to how much milk you need to steam simmer in the pan. We used the same recipe as on “einfach backen“, but the amount of milk was a bit too much for our pan. You can see that in the pictures, at the end of the cooking time, the milk should actually also be completely absorbed and the dumplings slightly caramelized at the bottom. That’s why we reduced the amount of milk to 250ml.

You can serve the steam dumplings unfilled as we did here with hot cherries or with vanilla sauce, but also fill them with a tsp of plum jam (“Powidl”), or sprinkle with poppy seeds – always delicious!

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 100g butter
• 250 ml milk
• 60g sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 2 egg yolks
• 500g wheat flour
• 1/2 cube fresh yeast (or 1 sachet dry yeast)

for simmering the dumplings:

• 250ml milk
• 50g butter
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 level teaspoon salt

for the cherry sauce:

• 1 jar of sour cherries
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 3 tsp cornstarch

Preparation:

1. For the yeast dumplings, heat the butter and milk in a mixing bowl in the microwave until lukewarm. Add sugar, salt and egg yolks and crumble in the yeast and mix briefly with a hand mixer.
2. Add flour and knead for a few minutes until a silky and only slightly sticky dough is formed.
3. Let the dough rise in the bowl for about 30 min until it has visibly increased in size. Cover it with a towel or a pot lid to prevent it from drying out.
4. Then knead again briefly and divide into 10 portions and form nice balls (see for example the following video). Let the balls rise again until they are again significantly larger.
5. Heat the milk, butter, sugar and salt in a deep pan (preferably with a glass lid) until the butter has melted and the milk starts to simmer. Place the dumplings in the pan and put the lid on and steam on low heat for about 30min. Do not open the lid, otherwise the dumplings will collapse!
6. In the meantime, put the cherries and their juice in a saucepan. Take a few tablespoons of the liquid and mix the cornstarch with it.
7. Season the cherries in the pot with sugar and cinnamon and bring to a boil. Add the cornstarch and bring to a boil to make the cherry sauce creamy.

Serve:

Serve while still warm along with hot cherries or vanilla sauce. A delicious (though not very light!) lunch or even breakfast, or a nice dish for coffee on Sunday!

Tips:

• If you want the yeast dumplings to look nice and smooth later, make sure they don’t show any cracks or crevices before rising!
• Very tasty also with other compote (e.g. blueberry) or fruit sauce.
• If you like, you can also fill the yeast dumplings with apricots or plums.

Enjoy your meal!