Makes 4 servings with peaches, 6 with smaller fruit. Scrub the fruit. (If you don’t want to include the stone, one recipe suggests replacing it with a chocolate candy or sugar cube.) Peel if desired.

When I was a child, my mother made plum dumplings every year around this time. It was always an occasion. My sister and brother-in-law came over to the house, along with other friends — most of them ...