Mecklenburg Dumplings & Spiced Pears

This is a dessert dish from the region of Mecklenburg, part of the northern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a large state that runs along the Baltic Sea. In German the dish is often referred to as, "Mecklenburger Klöße mit Birnen" ("Mecklenburg Dumplings with Pears").

Ingredients:

For the pears:
3 or 4 ripe, but firm, pears, peeled, cored and quartered
water to cover
1 cinnamon stick
lemon peel from one lemon
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 4 tablespoons water
pinch of salt

For the dumplings:
1/4 cup melted butter
2 tablespoons cream
2 large eggs or 1 jumbo egg
1 teaspoon sugar
pinch of nutmeg
1/2 cup (more or less) finely ground breadcrumbs

Put the peeled, cored and cut pears, the cinnamon stick, the lemon peel, the sugar and the salt in a pan and add just enough water to cover. Simmer the pears until they have softened, but not so that they are mushy. Add the cornstarch/water mixture and continue to stir until the liquid thickens a bit. It is not supposed to be super thick, however. In the meantime, bring a pan with about 5 to 6 inches of water to a gentle boil. Beat together the butter, eggs, sugar and cream until foamy, mix in the nutmeg and salt. Gradually add the breadcrumbs until a dough forms. If a good dough forms by using less than 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs, that is okay. Likewise, if you need more than 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, add an extra tablespoon at a time, until the dough forms. A "good dough" should be able to hold its shape when put into simmering water. Use a tablespoon to scoop out the dough to form the dumplings and put them into the boiling water. Cook about 5 to 6 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove the dumplings. 

Click to enlarge... I've left the cinnamon stick and a piece of lemon peel on the pears purely for the photo

WORD HISTORY: 
Pear-The ultimate origin of this word is unknown, but it goes back to Latin "pirum," meaning, "pear," the plural of which was "pira," apparently mistakenly thought of as a singular when borrowed by Germanic, giving Old English "pere," with the ending "e" pronounced as "eh/ah." The term also spread throughout the other Germanic dialects, giving the modern Germanic languages: German "Birne," ^ Low German Saxon "Beer," Dutch "peer," West Frisian "par," Danish and Norwegian "pære," Icelandic "pera" and Swedish "päron."

^ German too spelled the word with a "p" long ago, but the "b" variation came about and became the dominant form. I wonder if some Germans confused the word with "beri," the forerunner of modern "Beere," the close relative of English "berry?" The "n" seems to have appeared in the 1200s.