This typical Czech dish always steals the show! Sweet and delicious, fruit-filled dumplings are a meal often made in Czech kitchens. I'll teach you how to create yeast dumplings loaded with blueberries in this recipe.
➜ What are Czech fruit dumplings?
Czech-style fruit dumplings are prepared from yeast dough, filled with fruit, thoroughly sealed, and cooked in slightly boiling water. When served, the sweet dumplings pair wonderfully with crumbled farmer's cheese, ground poppy seeds, or cinnamon sugar. As a final touch, the dumplings need a dusting of icing sugar and a drizzle of melted butter.
Fun fact: It may surprise you, but Czechs eat these sweet fruit dumplings as a main dish, not as a dessert!
MY TIP: try also these strawberry dumplings made from cottage cheese dough (a real Czech thing!)
➜ Pronunciation
I recorded a short audio clip on pronouncing the Czech word "ovocné knedlíky", which means fruit dumpling. The first word in the audio is "ovocné knedlíky", and the next is "kynuté ovocné knedlíky", which means yeast fruit dumplings.
Interested in Czech cuisine? Discover more authentic Czech food!
➜ Ingredients
Yeasted dough:
- Coarse flour; possibly all-purpose flour can also be used. In the Czech Republic, the so-called "hrubá mouka", one of the European flours, is used for these dumplings.
- Dry yeast; or fresh yeast, both types are worked similarly
- Warm milk with a teaspoon of sugar; to activate the yeast
- Egg; for better consistency and color of the dough
- A pinch of salt; for taste contrast
Fruit filling:
- Wild blueberries; or other seasonal fruits, more on this later in the article
- Granulated sugar
Topping:
- Crumbled farmer's cheese (a variant of Czech tvaroh cheese)
- Powdered sugar
- Melted butter
✅ You’ll find the exact amount of ingredients below in the recipe card, which you can also print out.
➜ Instructions with photos
STEP 1: Stir a teaspoon of sugar and the dry yeast into the lukewarm milk. Leave the yeast in a warm place to activate. It takes about 10-15 minutes for a foam with bubbles to form on the surface.
STEP 2: In a large bowl, combine flour with egg, a pinch of salt, and the yeast mixture. Combine everything first with a spoon, then dump the mixture onto a work surface and process with your hands into a soft dough.
STEP 3: Return the ball of dough to the bowl, cover with cling film or a clean cloth, and leave in a warm spot to rise for 45 minutes.
⤍ Learn how to make dough rise in the oven.
STEP 4: Meanwhile, combine the granulated sugar and the clean, drained blueberries.
STEP 5: Roll out the raised smooth dough into a rectangular pancake about half to three-quarters of an inch thick. Cut into squares about 8 cm on a side. Place a teaspoon and a half of the sweetened blueberries in the center of each square. Close the dumpling carefully to prevent the juices from running out.
STEP 6: In a large skillet, bring lightly salted water to a full boil. Then turn the stove down to medium heat and place dumplings into it. Cover the skillet with a lid and cook for 8 minutes, do not flip the dumplings. Once cooked, carefully transfer them with a slotted spoon to a bowl.
STEP 7: Prick the cooked dumplings with a fork and brush their top with melted butter to release the steam. Drizzle with melted butter and serve with your favorite toppings.
➜ How to fill and shape fruit dumplings
Roll dough into a pancake that resembles a rectangle as closely as possible. Cut into squares with an edge of about 8 cm. Place a teaspoon and half a sweetened fruit in the center of each square.
Fold the opposite ends over and join tightly. Seal the holes. Slightly lift the opposite ends and bring them together tightly again, then form the dumpling into a regular round shape in your hands.
EXPERT TIP: Do not dust the dough too much with flour, the flour prevents the dough from sticking together or closing the dumpling. Also, keep your hands dry. Wet hands cause erosion of the dough into a gooey mass and make it impossible to close the dumpling well.
➜ Topping
The leavened blueberry dumplings go best with crumbled farmer's cheese. Another option is sour cream with powdered sugar. Dumplings also taste fantastic with ground cinnamon mixed with sugar.
Finally, pour melted unsalted butter over the dumplings.
➜ Which fruit to use?
We fill this type of dumplings in the Czech Republic with seasonal fresh fruit. Most often it is the following:
- wild blueberries
- strawberries
- prune plums
- apricots
- fresh peaches
The fruit calls for a little sweetening before filling the dumplings with it, as the dough itself contains almost no added sugar.
If you want to use frozen fruit, let it thaw a little. Yeast dough is sensitive to extreme temperatures, it does not like excessive heat, but neither does it like the cold. Or fill the dumplings with canned fruits that you have previously drained.
➜ How to freeze fruit dumplings
If you want to freeze raised dumplings, do it after you cook them, never before. Let them cool completely before freezing. Sometimes, it takes time, especially for the fruit packed inside the dumplings to cool.
Place the cooked and cooled dumplings in a large plastic bag with a zig-zag seal and put it in the freezer. After about half an hour, remove the bag of dumplings and shake it. The dumplings will keep for at least three months in the freezer.
This way, the dumplings will separate, and when you want to take them out of the freezer, you can take as many pieces as you wish.
➜ Useful tips
- Don’t place too many fruit dumplings in the pot of simmering water. They’ll leaven a little when boiling them.
- You can also steam the dumplings. A steam pot with a flat perforated bottom is perfect for this. Line the bottom with a clean, wet tea towel, as the dumplings tend to stick to the base when cooked; the tea towel will prevent this.
- STORAGE: Transfer the cooled dumplings to a deep bowl, cover them with plastic wrap, and place in the fridge, where they will keep for about five days.
More Czech desserts:
- Authentic Czech kolache
- Yeast pancakes – lívance
- Trdelnik – a baked sweet treat
- Blueberry yeast coffee cake
Tried this recipe?
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Czech yeasted fruit dumplings with blueberries
Ingredients
Yeast dough:
- 5.⅔ cups coarse flour (740 g) optionally all-purpose flour
- 1.½ cup milk (360 ml) lukewarm
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast or 20 g fresh yeast
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 pinch salt
Filling:
- 13 ounces blueberries (370 g)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar (50 g)
Topping:
- 7 ounces farmers cheese (200 g) or sour cream
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- ⅓ stick unsalted butter
Instructions
- Stir a teaspoon of sugar and the dry yeast into the lukewarm milk. Leave the yeast in a warm place to activate. It takes about 10-15 minutes for a foam with bubbles to form on the surface.
- In a large bowl, combine flour with egg, a pinch of salt, and the yeast mixture. Combine everything first with a spoon, then dump the mixture onto a work surface and process with your hands into a soft dough.
- Return the ball of dough to the bowl, cover with cling film or a clean cloth, and leave in a warm spot to rise for 45 minutes.
- Meanwhile, combine the granulated sugar and the clean, drained blueberries.
- Roll out the raised smooth dough into a rectangular pancake about half to three-quarters of an inch thick. Cut into squares about 8 cm on a side. Place a teaspoon and a half of the sweetened blueberries in the center of each square. Close the dumpling carefully to prevent the juices from running out.
- In a large skillet, bring lightly salted water to a full boil. Then turn the stove down to medium heat and place dumplings into it. Cover the skillet with a lid and cook for 8 minutes, do not flip the dumplings. Once cooked, carefully transfer them with a slotted spoon to a bowl.
- To release the steam, prick the cooked dumplings with a fork and brush their top with melted butter. Drizzle with melted butter and serve with your favorite toppings.
Notes
- Makes about 16-18 fruit-filled dumplings.
- SERVING: The leavened blueberry dumplings go best with crumbled farmer's cheese. Another option is sour cream with powdered sugar. Dumplings also taste fantastic with ground cinnamon mixed with sugar. Finally, pour melted unsalted butter over the dumplings.
- If you want to use frozen fruit, let it thaw a little. Yeast dough is sensitive to extreme temperatures, it does not like excessive heat, but neither does it like the cold. Or fill the dumplings with canned fruits that you have previously drained.
- You can also steam the dumplings. A steam pot with a flat perforated bottom is perfect for this. Line the bottom with a clean, wet tea towel, as the dumplings tend to stick to the base when cooked; the tea towel will prevent this.
- STORAGE: Transfer the cooled dumplings to a deep bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and place in the fridge, where they will keep for about five days. The dumplings also freeze well; put them in an airtight container and store them in the freezer for up to five months.
DISCLAIMER: Because I come from Central Europe, my recipes are based on metric units such as grams or milliliters. Check out how I convert metric units to the U.S. system:
Conversion chart
Anie
Thank you for the recipe, I have a quick question: Do I need wild blueberries only?
Petra Kupská
Thanks for your comment, you could use any blueberries you have on hand, just do not use frozen fruit, it’s not good when making yeast dumplings.
Mike
It's best with Cherries! Enjoy!
Petra Kupská
Yes, one of the best choices, I agree! 🙂
Gary Siwik
The author states that canned fruit may be used as long as it's drained in a sieve.
Petra Kupská
I completely agree. Canned fruit must be drained before it is used, as any excess liquid causes erosion of the yeast dough. A fruit dumpling with wet fruit cannot be sufficiently sealed, the dumpling then falls apart.
Jane Hartle
Hi, I was researching fruit dumplings and found your site. My mother was Czech and father was Slovak. My mother made these regularly with different fruits of the season, strawberries, cherries and plums mostly, along with plain small sausage looking dumplings finished with brown butter, bread crumbs, and sugar. I was looking for a recipe for these dumplings but I don’t recall my mother using any yeast. Is this optional?
She also made dumplings from potatoes so I get these a bit confused. My parents have passed now so I was happy to find your site to ask you.
Also what a great project for you and your boys! Congratulations on this idea.
Petra Kupská
Ahoj Jane, thank you for your nice comment first of all! You are right, fruit dumplings are a thing during the fruit season, which is June to September/October here in the Czech Republic. We usually make dumplings filled with fresh fruit, they taste the best 🙂 In Czech, there are most common about 3 kinds of dough for fruit dumplings. Those yeast fruit dumplings are very popular (at least in northern Bohemia, where I live). The other method of making fruit dumplings is to use tvaroh (quark or farmers’ cheese) and shredded boiled potatoes. However, these doughs are different, you can’s simply omit the yeast. I’m looking forward to late spring. I’m planning to make the cherry and strawberry dumplings with "tvaroh" and potato dough. I’ll definitely post the recipes here. Many greetings from Czech, Petra
P.S. - You mentioned "plain small sausage looking dumplings with fried breadcrumbs / sugar / butter", aww, that used my father to do, we call them šlejšky or šišky se strouhankou! 🙂
Sandra Trejbal Larson
Enjoy reading your recipes. I always use peaches or plums for fruit dumpling, now will try using blueberries. My grandparents were from Bohemia. One grandfather was a butcher. My paternal grandfather, dad and uncle were bakers. Love to bake and cook Czech recipes. At 78, for Easter I will make a pound cake in shape of a lamb like my dad made and the Easter bread. Our main course will be a ham. Thank you for your recipes. Happy Easter.
Petra Kupská
Ahoj Sandra, thank you very much for your lovely comment! Blueberries are a common choice for making yeast fruit dumplings in the Czech Republic. Using more significant round pieces of fruit such as plums, strawberries, apricots is an excellent option to make fruit dumplings with quark/potato dough. Happy Easter to you, too! Best wishes, Petra
pz
Hi Petra,
I grew up in Moravia ( Ostrava and Brno) and my Mom made sisky from the potato dough with poppy seeds and quark. She also made potato dough tasticky filled with povidla. I am still thinking about it and can almost taste it !
Your recipe for the blueberry knedlíky is excellent. Thank you!
Tereza
Hi Jane,
the one which you mean are bramborové šišky or bramborové taštičky s povidly. You use potato dough - no yeast.
Bramborové šišky - boiled potato dough in the shape of rolls, its served with melted butter, ground poppy seeds and sugar
Bramborové taštičky s povidly - it is filled with plum jam, boiled and served with fried scrambled bread, sugar and melted butter
Petra Kupská
Ahoj Tereza, thank you for adding more details, it is always interesting to learn how various dishes are prepared in different families. For example, in the Czech region where I live (northern Bohemia) the "bramborové šišky" dish is usually topped with fried breadcrumbs mixed with sugar. We usually sprinkle poppy seeds/sugar on cooked pasta, typically "nudle s mákem" – noodles with poppy seed. But when I mentioned this combination in a Facebook group focused on Czech food, only a few of its members were familiar with this dish!
Sandy
My mother always made her plum dumplings using more of a bread dumpling recipe minus the bread adding a small amount of sugar and no yeast. Basically flour, egg, milk, salt, sugar and oil. She served them with breadcrumbs browned in butter and sweetened with sugar.
Petra Kupská
I would say these fruit dumplings are a Czech specialty. Several types of doughs can be used to make dumplings, and I believe that the strength lies in simplicity. Plus, your maminka must have been good at cooking and had her own tried and tested recipe for fruit dumplings!
The sweet fried breadcrumbs reminded me of my dad; he always made this topping on "šišky". Sisky (šišky) are made of potato dough, shaped like small sausages and boiled in water. Sweet memories of childhood 🙂
Gabi
Hi Jane,
These small dumplings are called sulance in Slovakia. They are made from potato dough, very similar to italian gnocci. They are rolled from small pieces of the dough (cherry size) into longish shapes with the palm of your hand on working board. They are boiled in slightly salted water for few minutes. They could be served with melted butter and ground poppy seed, or walnuts and icing sugar, or with bread crumbs fried in butter and sugar.
Recipe:
500 g cooked potatoes shreded or mashed
200 g all purpose flour
1 egg
pinch of salt
Mix all together and right away form the dumplings.
Work quickly, or the dough will become thinner and stickier.
From the same dough, but without the egg I make sometimes lokse,
thinly rolled to resemble tortillas. They are baked same way on hot dry skillet, until brown spots appear. They are delicious as a desert, with plum jam, popy seed and butter, or can be used wih meat or vegetable filling too.
I hope it helps.
Gabi
Anita
How thin should you roll out the dough? My were very tasty but pretty doughy and a couple came open during boiling. Is there a certain way to roll them out? Also, my grandmother used to make a bread called Hollis, she said it was a Czech recipe but when she passed we could not find it.
Petra Kupská
Ahoj Anita, thank you for your question about the fruit dumplings.
The thickness of the rolled-out dough should be about as thick as a straw. A thinner one might tear when forming the dumplings.
These yeast dumplings contain more dough. Fruit dumplings made with potato or cottage cheese dough are also popular in the Czech Republic. This dough is very thin and basically just coats the fruit inside. I will post a recipe for this kind of dumplings (made with potato & cheese dough) in the summer, as soon as the fresh fruit season starts here!
The dumplings came open during cooking: Dumplings need to be appropriately closed; I use my fingertips and press both edges of the dough firmly. Then I gently roll each dumpling between my palms to give it a regular shape.
The dough shouldn't be too dusted with flour; the flour prevents the dumpling from closing well. A slightly sticky dough surface is an advantage.
Either way, I'm so glad the dumplings were successful and tasty!
Anita
Sorry, the bread name was holska.
Petra Kupská
Yep, I think it is a pastry called "houska" in the US. In Czech, we call it "vánočka" and it is a braided sweet bread, usually with raisins and almonds, baked at Christmas. Here is the recipe: Vánočka - please see if it is what you are looking for. Many greetings from the Czech Republic, Petra
Elizabeth
I love baking so I enjoyed reading your recipes from your beautiful country & since my heritage is Polish, some recipes reminded me of my mother's!
Petra Kupská
Dear Elisabeth, thank you for your kind comment and supportive words. I live just a few kilometers from the Polish border, and we go to Poland from time to time for nature or shopping. Moreover, both Czechs and Poles are Slavs, neighbors, and our national cuisines are similar in many ways! Best wishes, Petra
Marissa
Hi! My grandfather was Czech (my great grandparents moved over in the early 20th century). I grew up eating a lot of sisky at my grandparents. Sisky being very similar to this dish (boiled fruit dumplings). I had never heard of ovocne but this dish seems so similar to what I ate. Is sisky and ovocne knedliky similar dishes? Or did my grandpa just call it something different? Is sisky a different dish?? Unfortunately, my grandpa passed away in 2020 and I can no longer ask him these questions about my Czech heritage. I would love your insight!
Petra Kupská
Ahoj Marissa, thank you for your message and a nice question about Czech food. I did a little research and found out that fruit dumplings have various names in different parts of the Czech Republic. One of the names is sisky (spelled šišky in the Czech language), which is common in the Eastern Moravia region. This region is characterized by very rich cultural traditions, including Slovácko, Wallachia, Zlín, Hodonín (parts of Eastern Moravia). Isn't it possible that your grandfather came from this region? I myself am from northern Bohemia, where we make a floury dish made of potato dough in the shape of small sausages under the name šišky. Our šišky can then be sprinkled sweetly (poppy seeds, fried breadcrumbs with sugar) or salty (with bacon, onions, etc.). I hope this helps 🙂 I send my warm greetings from Bohemia, Petra
Eleanor Maticka-Tyndale
Hi my parents and grandparents were Czech and so I grew up with exclusively Czech cooking. When I married a 'Brit' I had to learn new ways of cooking. Our knedlicky were either with cherries or peaches and served with melted butter and cinnamon sugar. These comprised lunch on a summer day. Terribly decadent!
Petra Kupská
Ahoj Eleanor, thank you for your kind comment. Peaches and cherries are some of the most common fruits used for filling sweet dumplings. This nicely confirms that your roots are typically Czech! Also in our family, filled dumplings appear very often in summer when the fruit season is at its peak. Children especially love them.
Suzanne
How much semolina should be used in the recipe?
Petra Kupská
I would use roughly 3 parts all-purpose flour and 1 part semolina. The semolina will make the dumplings fluffier. Only with all-purpose flour will they be denser, but still very good.
Caroline Jeffery
Hi there, I came across your page when searching a recipe for fruit dumplings, Czech style. Mine didn't quite taste as good as the ones I remember eating when in Czech Republic, but I am sure with a bit more practise I will improve.
Hopefully this summer I will be able to visit Unicov again to see my friend, who always cooks me some lovely fried cauliflower. I have missed this over the past two years, aswell as missing travelling around different regions of your lovely country.
Best wishes to you and your family. The translation into English is excellent, keep up the good work.
Petra Kupská
Ahoj Caroline, thank you for your lovely comment. You're right; fruit dumplings made with yeast dough require a bit of practice, but it's nothing overwhelming. I believe that the next batch of dumplings will be fantastic! Unicov is a beautiful town, situated in an area with rich cultural traditions and not only in its surroundings there is a lot to discover. With warm greetings from the Czech Republic, Petra
Galina
My Czech mother used to make apple-filled boiled dumplings to be served like regular dumplings alongside pork roast. All the dumpling recipes I find are for dessert dumplings. Am fairly sure they were baking powder dumplings, not yeast-based. Thoughts?
Petra Kupská
Oh, this is the first time I've heard this combination (apple stuffed dumplings and pork roast); it must be some local specialty! Regarding Czech dumplings, the traditional version is made of yeast dough. But you're right; dumplings with baking powder are also cooked. They are faster, probably easier to prepare, but less fluffy. I'll try to look for a nifty recipe and post it here on the blog.
Kristena
Hi Petra! I've been waiting since last year to try this recipe. I'm looking forward to doing that this weekend. Cheers! -Kristena
Petra Kupská
Ahoj Kristena,
Thank you for your comment and I'm curious what you have to say about the dumplings if you try them out! We have wild blueberries ripening in our woods right now, and I have a picking trip in the forest with my mom planned for the middle of this week, and then I'm sure these dumplings will show up on our table 🙂 My family can't wait!
Best wishes,
Petra
Kristena
Petra, these turned out fantastic and I used fresh blueberries. I made my own farmer's cheese for this, which was so much better than buying commercial. I used lemon juice to make the curds, so the flavor of the cheese complimented the blueberries. Thank you for the fantastic recipe - this was shared with friends and family.
Petra Kupská
Oh, I am so happy you enjoyed the dumplings, thank you for your feedback! Your idea to make homemade farmer's cheese is great; I was already thinking of trying it, and your comment pushed me closer to it 🙂
Lu
Greetings from Australia, just came across this page, haven't tried anything yet [I have my own versions and usually read recipes and modify sometimes when thinking about it while cooking].ovocni knedliki I' use 1:1 tvaroh hruba mouka although tvaroh is not easy to get and they've stopped selling the flour flour so I'm experimenting with various mixtures [fine semolina etc] but usually too coarse or too fine. What seems to be the most popular, unfortunately is the Italian 00.
siski I remember, haven't made them yet [quicker and easier with boiled egg noodles :-). The family like best the Bauerne fruhstuck from left over knedlik. I've been tackling strudl for the past 4 years [Christmas Eve mandatory], almost reached the edible stage, also follow the New Year ritual with the lentils, bacon, onion for the first meal of the New Year
Petra Kupská
Hi Lu, thank you for your comprehensive comment! It's obvious you have experience with Czech cuisine. Fruit dumplings in the Czech Republic are most often made from three types of dough: yeast dough, potato dough, and "tvaroh" cottage cheese dough. I have the recipe for the dumplings you describe here: https://www.cooklikeczechs.com/strawberry-dumplings/
You're right about experimenting with flour. Czech coarse flour (hrubá mouka) is not easy to find abroad.
Lentils are a must for the New Year, try this recipe: https://www.cooklikeczechs.com/cocka-na-kyselo-recipe/
And try strudel again for Christmas, it's easy to make with puff pastry: https://www.cooklikeczechs.com/puff-pastry-apple-strudel/
Happy holidays! 🙂
Emma
I'm going to try this recipe for my class as we're learning about the Czech Republic. If I make them the night before and store them in the fridge, do I reheat them the next day or do we eat them cold?
Marie
Ahoj Petra,
I want to ask, if I was to freeze the knedlíky, what is the best way to reheat them? Would you recommend microwave?
Děkuji