Snitz un Knepp (Apples and Dumplings)
Adventures in cooking! Exploring a Pennsylvania Dutch staple for seasonal harvest eating.
If you read my previous post about making my Grandma’s recipe for snitz pie (dried apples pie), you may remember the hearty quantity of Pennsylvania Dutch cookbooks that I have at my disposal: Church cookbooks and commercially printed ones alike all bursting with cultural American-German deliciousness. And combing through these books brought forth multiple recipes for one iconic Dutchie dish: Snitz un Knepp (or Schnitz un Gnepp).
Snitz un Knepp is dried apples with dumplings, but there is also meat so it is more savory. (I did find a recipe to make it without the meat, if that is your preference. You simply make the dumplings and apples sans ham, adding a few tablespoons of butter and a little brown sugar.)
Either way it is considered an iconic Pennsylvania Dutch dish, passed down through ye olde generations. Here’s the kicker:
I’ve never actually had it.
But I just knew I had to make it.
Sounds crazy, right? How practically sacrilegious to have missed out on this. If I did have it, I was too young to remember or take notice of it. Apparently my mother had made it early in my parents’ marriage: however, according to Mom, neither of them liked it very much. Off to a smashing start, then!
For the love of Snitz
Making my post about snitz pie had taken me to Whole Foods for dried apple slices, so I knew where to find the elusive critters this time. Bear in mind these are not crunchy crispy apple chips: they are dehydrated apple slices that are still soft and a little juicy. They’re actually delicious to snack on just by themselves!
There is an interesting article from the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center that states that snitz was a catch-all term for dried fruit, though we typically think of it as being apples. (Schwenkfelders were a particular Christian denomination that settled in Pennsylvania and became part of the larger Pennsylvania Dutch culture). That gave me great comfort as my store was almost out of dried apples and I had to improvise. I grabbed a bag of mixed dried fruit to supplement, so this recipe will have figs, cranberries, apricots, plums, and apples!
Snitz is a perfect ingredient to work with during the fall. If you want to take advantage of apple harvest season, you can go to a farmer’s market for the produce and make your own snitz (I will leave that method for another time… dumplings were challenging enough without pulling my hair out over my temperamental oven trying to dehydrate a Cosmic Crisp bushel.) This method would also give you more control over the variety of apple you choose — pick one that won’t get mushy during the cooking process, like a Golden Delicious or Honeycrisp.
Recipe Notes
I found three recipes for snitz un knepp in my Mom’s/Grandmother’s cookbook collection. None in my Grandparents’ church cookbooks, which makes me wonder if the dish went out of fashion for a while, or if everyone just already knew how to make it and didn’t need to be told? I love these little mysteries of digging into the past: “it wonders me so.”
All three recipes nearly matched up, the main difference being quantity/size of the ham. I went with the most reasonable of the three: Version A had 3 lbs ham and a quart of snitz (not feeding an army here, folks), Version B had 2 cups of ham (what the heck? What a weird way to measure a chunk of meat), and Version C had 1-1/2 pounds of ham and a very reasonable 2 cups of snitz. I went with option C for the ham, and option A’s recipe for the dumplings (mostly because next to that recipe someone in the family had written “good.” Who, though?)
The Actual Recipe I Used:
1-1/2 pounds cured ham
2 c snitz
2 tablespoons brown sugar
For the knepp:
2 c flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup milk
Directions:
*If you have made your own dried apples, cover them with water and soak overnight.
*If you have store bought dried apples, soak for 2-3 hours.
1. Cover ham with cold water.
Accidentally bought a chunk of ham that was pre-sliced. I won’t tell if you won’t.
2. Add apples and the water they were soaking in, and simmer slowly for 2 hours. Remember you’re using fully cooked ham, so you’re just warming it.
3. Add brown sugar and cook for 1 more hour.
For the knepp: Add in the last 10 minutes of cooking.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
2. Quickly stir in a mixture of the beaten egg and melted butter.
3. Add enough milk to make a batter stiff enough to drop from a spoon (the recipe called for 1/2 cup, but I added milk to equal about 1 cup total).
4. Bring water to a gentle boil.
5. Drop batter by tablespoonfuls into boiling ham and apples. It depends on the size of your pot, but I only ended up using about half of my knepp mix as I was afraid to over-stuff the water and have the dumplings not cook properly. I still liked the ingredients’ ratio though.
6. Cover tightly and cook dumplings 15-20 minutes. Do not lift the lid until ready to serve.
Final Thoughts
If I had my choice, I honestly would just heat up the fruit in a frying pan or the microwave to just warm it, rather than soak and simmer it. Perhaps I used too much heat, or the dried apples were of a softer variety, but regardless it ended up a bit watery and mushy. The flavor of the ham was very good, and the dumplings were flaky inside. I would make this again with that adjustment. However: re-heated later it was delicious, and the fruit was less watery after being microwaved.
If you like your fruit as more of a compote or applesauce, or as a topping for mashed potatoes, etc., then this is definitely the recipe for you.
I made it through to the other side, and finally experienced the famous Snitz un knepp. It was a bit of a ride, but it was worth it, and it sure does taste like Fall.
What is your favorite Fall apple dish?
This recipe was adapted from the Mennonite Community Cookbook.
