Okay so I have made this twice now. The first time I followed the recipe and yes the dumplings were covered about 1/2 way up with the butter and soda mixture (and it was a lot of soda) but they cooked up fine and as expected the tops were beautiful golden brown and the bottoms were not so golden but they were not doughy at all they were cooked through. On the second batch I used the "bigger" crescent rolls and about 3 apple wedges per roll, I also drizzled the apples with caramel and added chopped pecans to each dumpling. I cut out the soda completely and drizzled orange juice over each one. The end result- WONDERFUL! I took a spoon and spooned the thick gooey glaze from the pan over them served them warm with vanilla bean ice cream, what more can I say. They were good the first time but with the changes they were superb.

Reviewed On: Oct. 27, 2009

I made this on a cold, rainy fall day and what a comfort on such a day! It was fantastic! The recipe was great as it is although I added a about 1/3 cup of white wine and 4 medium potatoes. I didn't have ground cloves but it tasted great without I also used 4 cups of beef broth instead of the water, which i think really enhanced the flavor and towards the end I did have to thicken it up from a soupy consistency to the "stew". I intended to add peas but forgot and will add them next time because we will definantley have this again! My sister made beef stew from another recipe on this site and she tasted mine and said that mine had a lot more flavor than hers and took the recipe! I am glad i didn't add any tomatoes to it but next time I will add some sour cream which I think would be a good addition for a bit of creaminess. A loaf of warm crusty bread was a splendid touch to this wonderful dish!!!

Reviewed On: Oct. 27, 2009