Drop Dumplings in Milk with Cinnamon Recipe
Drop dumplings in milk with cinnamon are a classic Polish dish somewhere between a milk soup and delicate spoon dumplings. Soft, irregular dumplings float in sweet milk scented with cinnamon, which pleasantly warms and fills you up. This version uses just a few pantry ingredients and is ready in about 15 minutes when you need quick, homely comfort.
This is one of those dishes that in many Polish homes replaced ready-made breakfast cereals – cheap, quick and filling. In the cinnamon version it evokes festive flavours, yet remains an everyday, simple meal.
Drop dumplings in milk with cinnamon are a bit like home spa food – they warm, fill you up and are gentle on the stomach at the same time. They combine very simple ingredients with a soothing milky–cinnamon aroma that’s hard to find in store-bought products. In Polish homes this dish often saves lazy mornings and late winter suppers.
Why this version works
- The batter is thick enough that the dumplings hold their shape and don’t dissolve in the milk.
- Cooking in “shimmering” milk helps prevent it from boiling over and burning.
- Adding sugar partly at the start and partly at the end makes it easy to adjust the sweetness.
Chef's tips
I always start by cooking 1–2 test dumplings – if they fall apart or are hard in the middle, I immediately adjust the batter thickness. The most common mistake is too high heat: the milk then boils over and the dumplings get a tough skin and raw centre, so make sure it only gently “shimmers”. If you don’t like skin forming on milk, gently stir just the surface and keep the pot partially uncovered.
How to serve
Into each bowl of dumplings you can add a handful of raisins, pieces of apple fried in butter or a teaspoon of tart raspberry jam to balance the sweetness. It’s a good breakfast before going out on a cold day or a late supper after a winter walk, when you crave something warm and gentle.
Watch out for
- Don’t let the milk come to a rolling boil – it will quickly boil over and burn on the bottom.
- Batter that is too thin will give flat, falling-apart dumplings that disappear into the milk.
- Don’t stir the pot like soup; overly vigorous movements will tear the soft dumplings into shreds.
Substitutions
- You can sweeten with honey, maple syrup or xylitol instead of sugar.
- Use lactose-free milk or your favourite neutral plant milk (e.g. oat) if you avoid regular milk.
Ingredients
- milk - 1 l
- flour wheat - 160 g
- egg - 1 piece
- water - 60 ml
- sugar - 2 tablespoon
- salt - 0.25 teaspoon
- ground cinnamon - 0.5 teaspoon
- butter - 1 tablespoon
Preparation
- Pour the milk into a medium pot, add 1 tablespoon of sugar, a pinch of salt and the butter. Heat over medium heat, stirring from time to time, until hot and small bubbles appear around the edges, but the milk does not come to a rolling boil.
- In a bowl, beat the egg with the water and a pinch of salt. Add the flour and mix with a spoon until you get a smooth, thick batter without lumps. It should flow slowly off the spoon in a thick stream rather than drip like thin pancake batter.
- If the batter is too thin and runs off quickly, add 1–2 tablespoons of flour. If it is so thick that it barely comes off the spoon, add a little water. Leave to rest for 2–3 minutes so the flour can hydrate and the batter becomes more elastic.
- When the milk is hot and only gently “shimmering”, reduce the heat to low. Dip a spoon in the milk, scoop up a small portion of batter and slide it into the pot, using a second teaspoon to help. Drop the dumplings in different spots so they don’t stick together.
- Form more dumplings, trying to keep them a similar size so they cook evenly. After adding all the dumplings, cook them over low heat for 5–7 minutes from the moment the milk returns to a gentle simmer.
- From time to time, very gently stir from the bottom with a wide spoon so the dumplings don’t stick, but don’t tear them apart with vigorous stirring. The dumplings are done when they float to the surface and are no longer raw or sticky in the centre when cut.
- Finally, add the remaining sugar and the cinnamon, then mix thoroughly but gently. Taste the milk and, if needed, add more sugar or another pinch of cinnamon until the flavour is clearly cinnamon-forward but not harsh.
- Serve immediately, hot, ladling the milk with dumplings into bowls. You can sprinkle the top with a little extra cinnamon or add a small pat of butter, which will melt on the surface and add creaminess.
Storage
Once cooled, the dumplings thicken and the milk becomes viscous, almost like a thin custard. Reheat over very low heat, stirring often from the bottom and adding a little milk or water, as it burns easily.
For adults I often add a strip of lemon peel to the pot and remove it before serving – the milk with cinnamon then gets a delicate spicy–citrusy aroma.
