A pandowdy is one of a family of old-fashioned deep-dish desserts, known by quaint names such as slumps, grunts, buckles, duffs, crumbles, or sonkers, made with seasonal fruits, that are all variations of a cobbler, and all of which came to America with the Colonists. Like Shoo-Fly Pie, pandowdy (the name is believed to refer to its “dowdy” appearance) is made with simple, primarily non-perishable, ingredients that were easy to keep on hand. You can make a pandowdy out of different fruits, but it’s traditionally made using apples sweetened with molasses (or brown sugar). The crust is a biscuit-type dough which can be baked on top, broken up near the end of the baking time and poked (“dowdied”) into the fruit, or even baked on the bottom, inverting the dish before serving.

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Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 6-8

Prep Time: 30 minutes   Cook Time: 50 minutes total  

Ingredients

FOR THE FILLING:

3 cups sliced, peeled apples

1/2 cup molasses

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

FOR THE CRUST:

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

Directions

To prepare the filling:
Core, slice, and peel three cups of apples and place in a bowl. Add 1/2 cup of molasses. Add nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt. Mix well. Butter a one-and-a-half quart baking dish and dump in the apple mixture. Bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from oven.

To prepare the crust:
Melt butter. Add egg, milk, and sugar. Stir well. Add flour, salt, and baking powder. Mix together.

Spread evenly over baked apple mixture. Place back in the 350-degree oven for an additional 30 minutes. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

Categories: Cobblers, Desserts, Old-Fashioned

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