Jam Dumplings [Celli Ripieni]

Ingredients for the pastry:
1 pound flour
5 ounces extra virgin olive oil
5 ounces white wine
2 to 3 T caster sugar
pinch of salt

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Ingredients for the filling:
13 ounces grape jam
3.5 ounces peeled almonds and/or walnuts, chopped
zest from 1 orange or lemon
5 to 6 dry, crushed plain biscuits, like digestive, or breadcrumbs

Optional: Semisweet chocolate chips, chestnut puree (or in the absence of it, chickpeas, breadcrumbs, dried figs, coffee, cinnamon)

Preparing the dumplings:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix all the pastry ingredients together into a smooth, elastic dough. Don’t overwork it; when it comes together nicely just wrap it in some plastic wrap and let it rest a minimum of 30 minutes.

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Preparing the filling:
Warm the jam in a small saucepan on low heat and add it to all the other ingredients, except for the crushed biscuits or breadcrumbs (use the biscuits or breadcrumbs if the jam mixture is too liquid - Spoonsful of the jam shouldn't slide off a spoon).

Roll out the pastry and cut out 24 squares of about 4 inches square. Place a teaspoonful of the jam mixture into the center of each pastry square and, first folding over the pastry to create a triangle, bring the two outer corners together to create a horseshoe-type shape, pressing down on the edges to seal them, like tortellini. The pastry tends to shrink when it bakes so make sure you have plenty of pastry -- Don’t fill them too much and seal them well.

Place on a greased and parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake until the dumplings are lightly golden. When cooled, dust with confectioners' sugar.

Makes 24