Sweet golden dumplings with ginger sauce

Portion size: Serves 6
Hands-on time 30 min, plus cooling and proving. Oven time 25-30 min
Difficulty: easy

Vegetarian

Recipe by: Irina Georgescu

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These golden, sweet dumplings are a Christmas favourite in Hungary and Romania. Serve the warm, yeasted buns with a jug of vanilla sauce.

Recipe from Tava by Irina Georgescu (Hardie Grant £27).

Mill wheels (chocolate and hazlenut meringues) are another festive Romanian treat. Get the recipe here.

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Ingredients

For the dough

350g plain flour
7g fast action dried yeast
125ml whole milk
2 medium free-range eggs
3 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp rum
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted, plus extra to brush and grease

For the sauce

300ml whole milk
3 medium free-range egg yolks
3 tbsp caster sugar
4 tsp plain flour
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 tsp ground ginger, or more to taste
Icing sugar to dust

You’ll also need

20cm round baking dish

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Method

In a mixing bowl or stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine all the dough ingredients apart from the butter and knead/work until they form a soft dough. Add the melted butter little by little, incorporating it well after each addition. Knead/work for about 5 minutes, then cover and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
Grease the round baking dish with butter. Tear off a 50g piece of dough and form into a ball. Roll it briefly in a little more melted butter and put it in the
dish. Repeat with the rest of the dough, arranging the balls in a circular fashion with one in the middle (you should get around 12 balls in total). Cover and leave to prove in a warm place for 30 minutes until doubled in size. The balls will join together to form a tear-and-share loaf.
Meanwhile, heat the oven to 160°C fan/gas 4. Once the dough has doubled in size, bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown on top. Remove from the oven and set aside while you make the sauce.
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Put the milk in a pan and bring to a gentle simmer. In a heatproof bowl, beat the yolks with the rest of the sauce ingredients (apart from the icing sugar) to a runny consistency. Slowly pour the milk over the yolk mixture, stirring constantly, then transfer the mixture back into the pan. Simmer over a low heat, without boiling, until the sauce thickens slightly.
Lightly dust the warm buns with icing sugar. To serve, tear off 2 buns and put them in the centre of a plate, then pour the sauce around it.