Potato-dough dumplings each wrapped around a whole plum, boiled and rolled in buttery cinnamon-sugar or fried breadcrumbs. A late-summer Central European sweet that reached Poland from the old Austro-Hungarian kitchen.
You bite through the tender, faintly sweet dough into a burst of warm, jammy plum that is both tart and sweet. The crunchy buttery breadcrumbs and sugar on the outside add toasty contrast. Nostalgic and homemade.
Cold, fully cooled mashed potato keeps the dough low in gluten and pliable, so it seals tightly around the fruit and stays soft when boiled. Gentle simmering cooks the plum into a jammy center without bursting the wrapper.
Variations
Strawberry or apricot knedle, curd-cheese dough versions, cinnamon-sugar finish, savory meat-filled knedle
On the Palate
Where Knedle ze Śliwkami sits in the Polish flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
8 steps · 20 min active + 15 min waiting
- 120 min
Boil the potatoes, mash them smooth, and let cool completely.
Watch outLet the mash go stone cold before mixing — warm potato needs more flour and turns the dough gummy and tear-prone.
- 28 min
Mix the mashed potato with flour, egg, and a pinch of salt into a dough.
- 36 min
Pit the plums, keeping each fruit whole.
- 47 min
Flatten a piece of dough and wrap it fully around a plum.
- 54 min
Seal each dumpling so no gaps remain.
Watch outFeel all around the plum for thin spots and pinch them closed — a gap lets water in and the wrapper falls apart.
- 62 min
Drop the dumplings into gently boiling salted water.
- 712 min
Cook until they float and the dough is tender.
Watch outGive them two to three minutes after they float so the seam around the plum cooks through, not just the outside.
- 84 min
Roll in butter-toasted breadcrumbs and dust with sugar to serve.
