Fluffy, soft sweet yeast dumplings served with a rich vanilla sauce and delicious poppy-seed-sugar topping. An indulgent dessert that nobody can resist.
Add flour to a large stand mixer bowl. Form a well in the middle of the flour and place the yeast and 1 tablespoon of sugar into it.
Pour ½ cup warm milk over the sugar-yeast mix. Stir gently together in the well while incorporating some of the flour of the rim of the well.
Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and allow it to sit for about 15 minutes.
In the meantime, melt the butter in the remaining warm milk and add it to the bowl along with the remaining sugar, eggs, and salt.
Knead the dough for about 5 minutes on low speed and then for another 5 minutes on medium-high speed, or until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Cover the bowl again with the kitchen towel and allow the dough to rise for about 1 hour.
Divide the dough into 8 equal portions and shape each piece into a ball.
Flatten the ball in your hand and fill with 1 tablespoon of plum butter.
Close the dough back into a ball by tucking the seams underneath, so you will have a smooth globe on top. Place the dough balls on a floured surface, cover them again with the kitchen towel and allow to rise in a warm space for about 30-45 minutes.
Fill a large pot with about ½ to 1 inch of water. Then place a steaming basket into it and bring the water to a light boil.
Reduce the heat to medium-low. Spray the steaming basket with oil spray and place the dumplings carefully into the steamer basket. Make sure to leave enough space between the dumplings as they will rise during the steaming process.
Cover the pot with a lid and steam the yeast dumplings for about 20–25 minutes.
In the meantime, prepare the vanilla sauce. You can find the recipe here on my blog: https://alltastesgerman.com/german-vanilla-sauce/
Add poppy seeds and powdered sugar to a blender and mix for about 15-30 seconds. If you don´t have a blender you can just blend the poppy seeds with the powdered sugar.
Remove the Germknödel carefully from the steamer basket and place each on a separate deep plate. Pour a quarter of vanilla sauce over each yeast dumpling and sprinkle with the poppy-seed-sugar mix.
Notes
Alternative filling: Nutella, almond butter, lingonberry jelly, chocolate pieces.
If you don´t have a steaming basket, you can use a large colander.