Core and dice the apples into 1-inch cubes. Place in a small bowl, and toss together with the brown sugar, corn starch, and chai masala.
Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Dumpling Dough
Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Using the large holes on a box grater, grate in the frozen butter. Toss the shreds into the flour mix and work it in just a little. Stop when your butter is about pea-sized.
Fold in the buttermilk until the dough begins to come together.
Dump the dough out onto the counter and fold it in half 15-20 times until it's almost smooth but with visible chunks of butter still.
Roll the dough out to just a little over ¼-inch thick. Cut into 8 equal squares.
Chai Masala Apple Dumpling Assembly
Press all 8 squares of dough into cups of your muffin pan (I leave the corner spaces open for an even spread).
Toss the apples in the liquid that has collected at the bottom to make sure they have flavor. Then, spoon about ⅓-cup of the apple mixture into each of the 8 dough cups.
On each dumpling, fold the corners into the center. Set a ½-tsp-sized pat of butter on top of each dumpling.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until they are lightly golden.
Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, and gently remove them to a cooling rack.
Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of caramel sauce.