A Winter Soup I Adore–Button Soup or “Knoephla”

I recently learned about Button Soup–a traditional German soup you might find in North and South Dakota and Minnesota. It’s also called Knoephla Soup (pronounced neh-fla). It’s the perfect winter soup. My husband and I both went back for a second bowl, and I heated up the leftovers for lunch today. You will love it!

I used this recipe from the Food Network, but I made my own modifications to save time. Essentially, this is a vegetable dumpling soup! It’s called button soup because the traditional dumplings (when made from scratch) look like little buttons. Check out the Food Network’s recipe to learn how to make the dumplings if you don’t want to use the refrigerator dough. Here’s my recipe:

Button Soup

3 tablespoons butter

2 large carrots, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

1 large onion, chopped,

Salt and Pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

10 cups vegetable stock

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1 tablespoon dried parsley (or 4 sprigs fresh, chopped)

1 teaspoon dried dill (or 2 sprigs fresh, chopped)

2 bay leaves

1 pound red or fingerling potatoes chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

1/2 cup heavy cream

Instructions:

Melt the butter in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, celery, onions, a good pinch of salt and a few turns of pepper and cook, stirring often, until the vegetables soften, about 8-10 minutes. Add the garlic and nutmeg and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 2 more minutes.

Next, stir in the stock, herbs, bay leaves and potatoes. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, then cover and cook for 40 minutes, but set another timer for 20 minutes.

While the soup is simmering, open a can of refrigerator biscuits. I used Wegmans. Cut each round of biscuit dough into four pieces. When the 20 minute timer goes off, add the dough to the soup pot, cover, and cook everything for the last 20 minutes. When there’s a minute left, add in the heavy cream and any more salt or pepper you’d like. Enjoy!