Boiled Dumplings or Saunker Pie

My mom is no longer with us and couldn’t talk the last three years of her life. Mama didn’t use a recipe, but following her example and practice I have written down the basics for “boiled” dumplings, or the “saunker pie” I grew up on.

My mom used potatoes (sweet or Irish), sauerkraut, tomatoes, apples, peaches (or any other fruit). For vegetables, she peeled, sliced thin, and cooked with seasoning, leaving plenty of liquid until the dough is done. For fruit, she sliced it real thin (I chop with a food processor)

Evelyn Whisnant, Lawndale, NC

1 stick margarine
1⁄4 - 1 cup sugar (or sweetener)
2 to 3 cups fruit
Dough (mix flour, shortening, and milk; roll out like for pie crust and slice into strips)
4-quart or larger pot

Cut margarine into thin slices; put into bottom of pot. Add a layer of fruit, leaving a hole in middle, add more sugar more if sour (I make fruit white), add a layer of dough, leaving hole in middle, repeat layers of fruit, sugar, and dough until pot is almost 3⁄4 full.

Pour water into center hole until contents are covered. Add lid to pot; boil medium-high until dough is done (check with fork). If you wish, you can turn your oven to “broil” and brown the top of the dumplings. Mama did this if time permitted, and always for  company.