This blueberry dumplings recipe is both old-fashioned, high on flavor, and can be made refined sugar and gluten free, if ya need it. I love a recipe that knows how to adapt.
Plus, there's something special about discovering these older recipes, before the wide spread use of processed commercial boxes and mixes from everything. When people know how to cook without the aid of Bisquick, can I get an amen!
It’s berry season! And who can resist a quick and easy dessert that showcases beautiful berries?
Is there anything better than warm, freshly picked blueberry dumplings?
The inspiration for this recipe was yet another discovery in my great-grandmother’s recipe collection. Published in 1949, it features blueberry biscuit dumplings cooked in a sweet brown sugar sauce.
As much as I loved the original recipe, I wanted to create a version with a lot less sugar, and a lot more berries!
My blueberry dumplings with biscuits is in a maple syrup sweetened blueberry sauce. Topped with a little whipped cream, it’s reminiscent of strawberry shortcake. It’s rich in blueberry flavour, and the dumplings are soft and fluffy, even when made gluten-free.
This is a recipe that is fun to play with! Make it in the winter with frozen berries, or switch it up and use strawberries or raspberries, or a mix of berries for the sauce. I might even make this for breakfast with a dollop of yogurt as a special treat!
Berry dumplings is one of our favorite items to make when camping. Berries are in season and ripe during the summer months, when we do a lot of camping and outdoor cooking. This is an easy campfire dessert, simply use a cast iron Dutch Oven and lid.
Get more Dutch Oven and from scratch cooking recipes in my new book, Hand Made: the Modern Guide to Made-from-Scratch Living, with over 100+ recipes, including our berry dumplings, and berry pudding cakes!
Easy Blueberry Dumplings Recipe
Sauce
- 4 cups blueberries (or other berry) fresh or frozen
- 2 tsp corn starch (for frozen berries)
- ½ cup water
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Dumplings
- 2 cups flour or gluten-free flour blend (I used 2/3 cup brown rice flour, 2/3 cup sorghum flour, 2/3 cup arrowroot flour, and 1 tsp ground chia seed)
- 4 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ cup butter
- 1 Tbsp maple syrup
- ¾ cup milk (minus a tbsp.)
In a large frying pan, add all sauce ingredients and heat until boiling. If using frozen berries, toss the thawed berries with cornstarch before placing them in the pan. Once the sauce is boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
While sauce is simmering, combine flour(s), baking powder and salt. Cut in butter until the mixture looks like crumbs. Add 1 tbsp maple syrup to the bottom of a measuring cup and then fill to ¾ cup with milk. Add milk and syrup to flour mixture and stir until just combined.
Drop dough by heaping spoon-fulls onto simmering blueberry sauce. You should have about ten dumplings.
Cover the pan with a lid, and cook for 15 minutes.
Serve while warm.
Blueberry Dumplings Recipe- Old-fashioned Recipe from 1949
Ingredients
- Sauce
- 4 cups blueberries or other berry fresh or frozen
- 2 tsp corn starch for frozen berries
- ½ cup water
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- Dumplings
- 2 cups flour or gluten-free flour blend I used 2/3 cup brown rice flour, 2/3 cup sorghum flour, 2/3 cup arrowroot flour, and 1 tsp ground chia seed
- 4 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ cup butter
- 1 Tbsp maple syrup
- ¾ cup milk minus a tbsp.
Instructions
- In a large frying pan, add all sauce ingredients and heat until boiling. If using frozen berries, toss the thawed berries with cornstarch before placing them in the pan. Once the sauce is boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
- While sauce is simmering, combine flour(s), baking powder and salt. Cut in butter until the mixture looks like crumbs. Add 1 tbsp maple syrup to the bottom of a measuring cup and then fill to ¾ cup with milk. Add milk and syrup to flour mixture and stir until just combined.
- Drop dough by heaping spoon-fulls onto simmering blueberry sauce. You should have about ten dumplings.
- Cover the pan with a lid, and cook for 15 minutes.
- Serve while warm.
Think of this blueberry dumplings recipe kind of like a blueberry dumpling cobbler, but with delicious biscuit clouds on the top.
Want more old-fashioned vintage recipes? Grab some of our favorites in this free e-booklet!
[…] are not only for your chicken dishes, they’re delightful with berries and you can use this 1940’s recipe for Blueberry Dumplings (swap out the blueberries for blackberries) better be happening at your house soon. It’s a sad […]
Can you use sour milk in the blueberry muffin recipe?
If you use soured milk that’s gone bad it will make the whole recipe taste that way
Melissa would you mind sharing the original recipe?
Delicious and not overly sweet!!
My grandmother made your blueberry dumpling recipe but she called it Blueberry Slump, and a friend’s mother called it Blueberry Grunt. Regardless of the name, it is a wonderful tasty dessert. It reminds me of family clambakes when I was a child where this was served for dessert. Thank you.