Anyone who uses the expression “as easy as apple pie” likely hasn’t ever made one from scratch—or heard of its truly easy old-fashioned cousin, apple pandowdy. Even if you know how to roll out pie dough, pandowdy creates a similar dish with even less effort. The crust is simply crumbled or spooned over the top.
This apple dessert recipe starts with a base layer of firm, juicy apples and is topped with a butterscotch-like sauce that soaks into the fruit and spills up over the top crust as it bakes, caramelizing and melding the flavors. The prep time is far shorter than the baking time, and even that takes only an hour, making the recipe quick enough for a weeknight dessert.
What is apple pandowdy?
This dessert was once a home-cooking classic, even if you’ve never heard of it. It was so popular—or at least its odd name was—that “Shoo-Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy” became a chart-topping hit for Dinah Shore in the 1940s and was also recorded by Ella Fitzgerald and other stars.
Like shoofly pie, apple pandowdy is a Pennsylvania Dutch recipe thought to have originated in colonial times but has since fallen out of fashion.
When the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign found a handwritten recipe for the dessert in its library collections, it was clearly handed down by cooks who knew exactly what they were baking. The recipe lacked measurements, cooking time, temperature and even the type of baking dish. The university’s culinary faculty and students discovered that the name comes from a technique that presses the dessert’s topping down into the semi-cooked filling so that the apples’ juices rise over and caramelize the surface.
It’s a shame that pandowdy has become unfamiliar to modern cooks because it’s such an easy and delicious dessert. As the 1940s song says, it “makes your eyes light up, your tummy say, ‘Howdy.'”
Apple Pandowdy Ingredients
- Apples: Heirloom apple varieties like Northern Spy and Winesap, which are sweet yet tart and bake well, will make this recipe taste like historical versions. New types of apples are delicious in it, too. Try Jazz apples for hints of pear flavor or RubyFrost if you want the slices to hold their shape when baked.
- Sauce: Brown sugar, all-purpose flour, salt, water and lemon juice make a simple sauce that tastes like butterscotch and bakes into the apples. Add nutmeg and vanilla extract before you stir the sauce into the fruit to round out the flavor.
- Butter: Butter makes the sauce smooth and glossy and the topping rich and tender. When the sauce is still slightly warm, the butter should melt evenly. If the sauce has cooled or the butter is cold, rewarm the mixture on low heat until the ingredients combine.
- Topping: Use butter, all-purpose flour and salt to create a topping similar to pie pastry. Just enough milk to moisten the ingredients would let you crumble on the topping, but this recipe boosts the milk volume and adds baking powder for a tender crust that rises slightly in the oven.
- Cinnamon and coarse sugar: For spice and sparkle, sprinkle a mixture of cinnamon and coarse sugar over the topping before it goes into the oven. Finer sugar would still add sweetness but melt into the dough as it bakes.
Directions
Step 1: Make the sauce
Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a medium saucepan, mix together the brown sugar, 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt; add the water and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat, whisking, until thick. Cover and set aside.
Step 2: Mix the topping
In a bowl, combine the baking powder, remaining 1 cup flour and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cut in 3 tablespoons butter. Mix in the milk just until moistened (a few lumps will remain); set aside.
Step 3: Prepare the fruit
Arrange the apples in a 1-1/2-quart baking dish, and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Stir the nutmeg, vanilla and remaining 2 tablespoons butter into the brown sugar sauce until smooth. Pour the sauce over the apples.
Step 4: Add the topping
Drop the dough by spoonfuls over the sauce. In a small bowl, combine the coarse sugar and remaining 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon. Sprinkle this mixture over the dough.
Step 5: Bake and serve
Bake the dessert until the top is brown and the apples are tender, about 55 minutes. Serve warm, with whipped cream if desired.
Editor’s Tip: The juicy apples and rich sauce will likely simmer up over the topping while in the oven. If you love how this caramelizes the crust, help it along by pressing down on the topping with the back of a spoon once the apples start to simmer. Set a sheet pan under the baking dish to catch any filling that bubbles over.
Recipe Variations
- Use a pie crust: Pandowdy stands out from cobblers and crumbles in that its topping resembles pie pastry more than crunchy streusel or biscuit dough. Go ahead and make pie crust instead, but simply crumble it over the apples rather than rolling it out. If you’re making and rolling out pie pastry for several classic American pie recipes, save the scraps to crumble on this pandowdy and create a bonus dessert.
- Change the sweetener: Historically, apple pandowdy was made with light molasses or maple syrup when home cooks faced refined sugar shortages. Substitute 1 cup of either for the brown sugar, and reduce the water by 1/4 cup. For a less sweet dessert, cut back on the sugar overall. Just 1/4 cup brown sugar lets the apple flavor dominate the dish.
- Add spices: If you like spiced cider, toss the apples with a few extra spices. Try 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice, cloves or ginger, or a combination of all three.
- Mix up the fruit: Use a combination of firm pears and apples for a sweet-tart filling. If you’re rich in pears, try this pear pandowdy recipe instead. The topping and sauce can also cover summer fruit like apricots, peaches or plums.
How to Store Apple Pandowdy
Let it cool completely before covering the baking dish and storing at room temperature for up to two days or in the refrigerator for no more than a week. To reheat the pandowdy, uncover the baking dish and place it in a low-temperature oven until warm. You can serve it at room temperature, too.
Apple pandowdy’s crust absorbs the sauce and fruit the longer it sits, so eat it within a few days to avoid a soggy topping.
Apple Pandowdy Tips
What pan do you use to bake pandowdy?
Pandowdy is a deep-dish dessert, so you’ll want a pan at least 2 inches deep to hold the juicy filling. A 1-1/2-quart ceramic or glass baking dish works well, as does an 8-inch cast-iron or other ovenproof skillet. If you’re concerned that the filling will bubble over and make a mess in your oven, it’s fine to use a slightly larger baking dish or skillet—and put a sheet pan on the rack below it, just in case.
How do you serve an apple pandowdy?
This apple dessert tastes delicious when served at room temperature or warm. Let it cool for at least 20 minutes before serving so that the filling sets up slightly and doesn’t burn your tongue.
Make whipped cream from scratch to put a finishing touch on this dessert. You can also dish out apple pandowdy with a cold scoop of vanilla ice cream, like you might serve apple pie. For an equally rich yet savory bite, try a slice of sharp cheddar cheese.
