1 double-crust pie pastry, homemade or store bought (if store bought make sure it’s thawed.)
6 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored
½ cup butter
¾ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 cups water
2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, butter a 9x13-inch pan.
Roll pastry and cut into six 8-inch squares. Put an apple on each pastry square, cut butter into 8 pieces; place 1 piece in the opening of each apple (about a teaspooon each); save the remaining butter for sauce.
Poke brown sugar into each of the apples and sprinkle around the base. Sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg over apples.
With wet fingertips, bring one corner of the pastry square up to the top of the apple, then bring the opposite corner to the top and press together. Bring up the two remaining corners, and seal. Slightly pinch the dough at the sides to completely seal in the apple. Put in pan.
To make the sauce: Combine water, white sugar, vanilla extract, and reserved butter in a large saucepan, bring to a boil on medium heat. Reduce to low and simmer about 5 minutes. Pour the sauce over dumplings.
Bake until golden brown and crisp on top, 50 to 60 minutes.
When serving spoon some of the sauce over the top of each apple and it MUST have vanilla ice cream.
