Potato Dough:

2 potatoes
2 1/2 cups flour (approximate)
1 egg
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 teaspoons salt

Boil the potatoes in salted water in their skin until tender when pierced with a fork. Rinse potatoes briefly under cold water until just cool enough to handle, then peel.

While still hot, mash them with the butter, egg, and salt, stirring in about 2 cups or more flour. Mix until you have a firm dough that you can handle, but that is still slightly sticky. Dough should be prepared just before use as it does not store well.

With well floured hands, work potato dough into a 3-inch thick roll. Cut into half inch slices. Roll each roll on a well floured board, as thinly as possible.

Filling:

12 plums
sugar

Remove the pit from each plum and fill each with 1/2 teaspoon sugar.

Put each plum in center of dough, and wrap the plum in it, pinching all the edges closed.

Roll the dumpling between your floured hands, until it is a smooth ball without seams.

Drop into rapidly boiling water and boil for about 10 minutes. Remove from water using a slotted spoon; drain and roll in buttered bread crumbs.

Bread Crumbs:

1/4 cup butter
1 cup bread crumbs
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

In a large skillet, melt butter. Add all the ingredients and stir until well blended. Roll dumplings in the skillet, by shaking the pan back and forth, so it covers all the dumplings. Serve immediately or keep loosely covered with aluminum foil in a 200F oven.

NOTES: Here is another very popular Viennese dish. This Plum Dumpling requires raw plums, which we get only in summer. I do this dish with dry plums too, in which I soaked them during the night in Cherry liqueur. To take the pit out, I make a cut long wise on the plum, and take the pit out. I keep it whole as much as possible. I put about 1/2 teaspoon of sugar in each plum, and then continue as I will tell you in my very old recipe from Oma Ruth. But still, with fresh raw plums is the best.

Makes about 1 dozen (6-8 servings)

Submitted by: Mrs. Lessing