Whoa, yum!! I think I need to make these a regular part of dinner too! Would there ever be savory versions, or always sweet?

Ooo, I bet these would be good if you made them with tomatos and skipped the sugar.

I bet they're good with just about anything. I shall have to try these.

They kind of remind me of tartufo gelati, looks-wise. I'm curious to try making them at my place.

I've had these poached in red-wine syrup in Germany. Made with plums in August, and served with a wine custard and whipped cream.

i've never had them as a savory dish, but that would make for a great experiment. i like the tomatoes idea ...

I've never heard of these- they sound great! That second picture looks a little... vulgar though.

I learned a variation of this from my Croatian mother in law. We call it Knedli. I wrap whole apricots (with pits) in a basic gnocchi dough. I boil them then top with fried bread crumbs, sour cream, and cinnamon sugar. Tomake them an easy week night option I buy a bunch of fruit in season, make the dough, wrap them up and then freeze the whole thing. They just need a few more minutes in boiling water and they're almost as good as fresh.

My mother makes these too using a gnocchi dough and only prune plums. After cooking, they are dressed in buttery sweet breadcrumbs. Although I am aware of the potential for freezing them, I kind of like the idea of waiting all year for the plums in September.

I made a Hungarian version for my husband, it is a lot of work, but tasty...

http://www.pinkbites.com/2008/08/hungarian-plum-dumplins-and-things-we.html

My grandmother used to make these all the time!! I'm so excited to have some Czech food featured here! These are delicious!!

'Svestkove' means that they are made with plums, general 'fruit' dumpling are called "ovocne knedliky", they can also be 'jahodove' (made with strawberries), 'boruvkove' (with bilberries, the European relatives of blueberries), or 'merunkove' (with apricots). I also prepare them with a dough similar to gnocchi dough and they are delicious :)

How many plums can I plan on covering with the dough from this recipe?

They are a main course for all Czechs -- never sides, although sometimes desserts (but only in restaurants in Prague it seems).

There are many different versions of the dough -- in my family (as well as all the in-laws), we always made our dough with cheese -- tvaroh. Quark or cream cheese (or a combo of quark and cream cheese) is a good substitute, although cottage cheese without curds (or puréed to eliminate the curds) also works. Don't remember the proportions off-hand, but I think I usually use 2 eggs to all the cheese (maybe a half pound of cheese), which is then also combined with flour, a pinch of salt and good TB or so of sugar.

To serve, you are supposed to grate cheese on top -- I once found an unsalted ricotta salata, which was perfect, although dry curd cottage cheese or grated dry baker's cheese also works. You then douse with melted butter, and sugar, and sprinkle with fried sweetened breadcrumbs or ground poppy seeds.

The cream cheese dough is the best for delicate fruits such as blueberries and strawberries, which are best made from frozen. You can roll the cream cheese dough quite thin.

Other dough variations are made with potato, and yeast doughs.

Oh my God I want to try these!

I'm definitely going to have to work out a gluten-free version of these.

This is making me wish I had a Czech grandma too!

Wow! Who knew there were so many Czechs on the Kitchn? I love these, too, and they were made by my grandma. mschatelaine pretty much nailed it in terms of how we made & served ours... although we would put the cheese on top (tvaroh) and i would say it was closer to a drier, crumblier farmer's cheese than a cottage cheese, but its all pretty similar. Yum yum yum! These are soooo delicious!

mh330: there are many kind of tvaroh: the soft/creamy one for the dough, the hard one to grate on the top of dumplings.
I also agree with mschatelaine, the cheese dough is the best for delicate fruits, I guess one can also use a creamy ricotta instead of tvaroh in the dough (I'm Italian and I live in the Czech Republic, so I usually sobstitute tvaroh for ricotta in my cakes and pies and it works).
>>I have to look for a recipe.

Humph.

My lazy Czech grandmother never made these for me!

This is too funny!! -- a Youtube segment on Czech Plum Dumplings, complete with a plum dumpling song (We Love Plum Dumplings). I suspect that they are Czechs from Moravia, who are known to burst into song, unlike their Bohemian brethren.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mNp4WCJkkI

This is how our plum dumplings look, btw.

Here are a bunch of Ovocné Knedliky (Fruit Dumpling) recipes, including ones with yeast, potato and cheese doughs. As I said, in my family, we have always used the cheese. There are 2 variations here, one with quark , and one with cottage cheese.

http://www.expats.cz/prague/showthread.php?t=151137

Here is another variation, made with cream cheese

http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/111208/liv_354889343.shtml

And one made with farmer cheese (and cake flour!):
http://www.bigoven.com/88179-Fruchtknoedel-(Fruit-Dumplings)-recipe.html

I have made it with cream cheese when I couldn't find quark, and it is delicious. Ricotta brands vary, but I generally find that it has a higher water content and is sweater then tvaroh, but it can work too. In France I have found unsweetened Fromage Frais and Fromage Blanc are a good approximation. Experiment with what you can find! (I've never tried it, but mascarpone would be deliciously decadent).

And a word about flour: Czech dumplings, even the kind used to accompany meat, are always made with "hruba mouka", or course floor. In Europe, this is flour ground to "00" level of fineness. In North America, the closest flour is "Instant Blending Flour". As well, these recipes often call for semolina or farina. While many use Cream of Wheat (not the instant kind!), you could also try a very fine semolina, often found in Middle Eastern grocery stores, and decide which you like best.

Now, I am really craving fruit dumplings!!!

OMG I need to make these now!
My Baba always used to makes these for me when I was young. Now my little cousin who lives with Baba and is always bragging that she had blueberry knedliky for dinner. Now I can make them whenever I like.
I love Slovak food. Keep posting these great Czechoslovakian recipe articles. They bring back great memories and are very inspiring.