Belariath

The recipe was written out in tight, neat penmanship on a rather weathered sheet of vellum.

For just a small dessert for two, you will need two medium apples - tart green ones are the best. Peel them and core all but an inch or so from the middle so that there is still a full bottom to the apples. Once the apples are ready, prepare the crust as follows. Two cups flour, two pinches of salt, half a cup of cold milk, and half a cup fresh butter. Stir flour and salt into a mixing bowl till well blended, then add milk and butter. Stir till everything is mixed well and moist. Spread out onto the baking pan and cut into two equal squares. Place the peeled and cored apples into the middle of each square.

Now, in a cooking pot, mix two cups crushed walnuts, two cups dried grapes, two cups dried cherries, three cups sugar, a liberal dash of cinnamon, a liberal dash of nutmeg and one cup water. Heat slowly, stirring constantly till sugar is dissolved and a heavy syrup has formed. Take off the heat and ladle a large spoonful into the hollow cores of the apples. Set aside. Fold the dough over the apples and seal it shut tightly - put in oven to bake for three quarters of an hour.

When pulled from the oven, put each dumpling in a dish and ladle the rest of the filling over the dumplings and serve with thickened sweet cream.