Austrian Classic: Strawberry Dumplings

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Strawberry

These strawberry dumplings are a springtime take of the famous Austrian Marillenknödel, or apricot dumpling, prepared with quark cheese.

For 12 dumplings:

Ingredients
10-12		strawberries, fresh
275		quark cheese or fromage frais
75		butter (at room temperature)
1		egg, large, beaten
135		plain flour
6	tablespoon(s)	strawberry jam

Ingredients
100	g	fresh strawberries
3	tablespoon(s)	strawberry jam

Clean the strawberries and remove the stalk and any green leaves. In a large bowl, mix the quark cheese with the butter, the beaten egg and the flour into a smooth dough.
Shape this into a long roll on a floured work surface. Cut the roll into smaller pieces. Pull these apart slightly with your fingers, place a small amount of the strawberry jam inside and fold a strawberry into the dough. Cut the strawberries if you need so they fit them snugly into a piece of dough.
Form each piece into round dumpling shapes and place to one side.
To make the crumb, heat the butter in a pan until it melts, then turn up the heat so it starts to foam, it is then hot enough to fry with.
Fry the breadcrumbs, sugar and cinnamon while stirring continuously to ensure the crumb does not burn, then remove from the heat when you have a golden-brown colour to the crumb.
Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Place the dumplings in the water and turn down the heat so the water simmers rather than boils. The dumplings will take about eight to ten minutes to cook and will float to the surface when done.
Gently remove them from the water with a slotted spoon, let them drain on a kitchen towel and then place them in breadcrumbs. Ensure that they are coated fully in the crumb.
Serve on a large decorative plate or serving dish with the fruit compote to one side and more breadcrumbs mix on the plate.