German Potato Dumplings

These are a family recipe passed down from my great grandma (my maternal grandpa’s mom) I never had the chance to meet her but she was one heck of a lady. She managed to provide for her very large family on a teeny tiny budget.

These were one of the tricks up her sleeve. These little dumplings are pretty cheap and easy to make but they’ll “stick to your ribs” as my family says and fill you up nicely!

This is kind of a shoot from the hip recipe, as I’ve only ever been told the ingredients but no the ratios. It’s really easy and you’ll figure it out quickly. They’re pretty much fool proof so don’t worry 🙂

Ingredients:

Mashed potatoes
Vegetable Oil
All Purpose Flour

This all depends how much you are making. I don’t even have a recipe for these bad boys but they are so simple, you don’t need one either. This is a great use for left over mashed potatoes but you could also make some for this purpose too. Homemade mashers obviously work well, but just know that boxed mashed potatoe flakes are also the bomb for this purpose too! (Boxed mashed potato flakes are like my guilty pleasure..shhhhh)

Anyway here is how you do it:

Instructions: 

1) Put your mashed potatoes in a large bowl (I’m not joking, like very large)

2) pour about 1 TBSP of oil in the potatoes (This is the “secret” to success)

3) add in a cup of flour at a time and mix in by hand until the dough is no longer tacky and you can roll into a ball without leaving half of it on your hands.
*I’m not going to sugar coat anything here. You will use a LOT of flour. Be prepared. And don’t skimp either!

4) once the dough is the right consistency, roll it into uniform dumpling sizes. You can make them whatever size you want, I’ve done small and large and everything in-between.

5) carefully drop them into a pot of boiling water and let them boil until they drift towards the surface. Then you’ll boil them for about 5-7 minutes. Again this depends on the size of your dumplings but thats a good rule of thumb.

You can take one out and test it too. Just cut it in half and see if it still looks doughy in the middle or cooked through.

6) Once they’re ready- serve them up! You serve with soup, a stroganoff, eat them by themselves..the possibilities are endless!

These are the ultimate comfort food for me. They are so simple and it doesn’t hurt I grew up eating them so they remind me of so many great memories and special people throughout my life.

Has anyone else ever had these or grew up with them? Most of the people I’ve talked to have only had dumplings that were sort of like bisquick mix made. More light and airy. These are definitely dense and more delicious in my opinion 🙂

Thanks as always for checking out my blog. Hope spring is in full swing where ever you are reading from.

xoxo