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Pandowdy is a dessert of unknown origin, with apple pandowdy being the most common type. It is a deep dish pie with a thick top crust that is cracked and pushed into the fruit during cooking. Some recipes use shortbread instead of pie crust. Pandowdy should not be confused with other desserts like clafouti or fibbie. It is suggested not to add too much flour to the fruit, and using ripe but not overripe apples can help. Molasses is a good sweetener for apple pandowdy, while sugar is better for peach, apricot, or berry pandowdies.
Pandowdy, sometimes spelled as pan dowdy, is a dessert of unknown origin. The name, however, has long been fun to use, and the dessert for many is the ultimate in dessert comfort. Some traditions suggest that the first European settlers of the Americas created the dessert and most believe that the fruit used for the first renderings of the dessert was the apple. Hence apple pandowdy is the most commonly described type.
The name pandowdy may be a reference to the dessert’s “gloomy” or crumpled appearance in finished form. A layer of sweetened and spiced fruit is given a thick top crust, usually made with shortbread or piecrust. As the dessert cooks and the crust hardens, the crust is pushed and broken into the fruit with a fork, which allows the juices from the cooking fruit to somewhat coat the crust. Some recipes suggest simply cracking the crust after the pandowdy is removed from the oven. When a pandowdy recipe uses a traditional pastry or crust, it typically asks you to make enough crust for a two-crust pie, but roll this amount into a thicker crust to lay on top of the fruit.
There are some inaccuracies online regarding pandowdy apple recipes and descriptions. Some websites mistakenly refer to the dessert as an apple upside-down pie, or where fruit is baked on top of a cookie or pie as a crust, then flipped over before serving. Most recipes for this fruity dessert don’t suggest this method, and perhaps these other accounts are confusing the dessert with other fruity concoctions like clafouti or fibbie.
Instead, pandowdy looks more like a deep dish pie, with the addition of cracking the crust, or some people cobbler with shortbread instead of cookie dough, the dish would just be cobbler. It should be understood that the traditional cobbler uses biscuit or dumpling dough rather than pastry dough. Another part of the name pandowdy may refer to the fact that the dish is usually assembled in a pan or skillet, rather than a cake pan. Actually, you can be quite liberal in your choice of pan or plate for the dessert and you can even make this dessert in large oblong or square pans. Luckily you don’t have to be particularly skilled at rolling the crust, and some holes don’t count since you’ll be cracking the crust before serving.
While this dessert may look a little worse for wear, many people attest to its delicious flavor. Some recipes can get a little dry, especially if you break the crust during the baking process. It is suggested not to add too much flour to your fruits, as this can cause less fruit juices to flow.
Using ripe but not overripe apples can also help, as apples tend to dry out a bit as they get older; if you’re using older apples add a little apple juice to moisten the fruit. Although many people use sugar to sweeten the fruit, there are a number of recipes that call for sweeteners with molasses. This would give the fruit a more intense flavor and molasses pairs well with apples. Sugar may be a better choice for peach, apricot, or berry pandowdies.
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