Pandowdy – Core Recipe

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Pandowdy is a traditional American dessert thought to go back to German settlers on the north east coast of the US. It has a delicious layer of luscious, sweet fruit topped with crispy pastry. This dessert is like a cross between a fruit crumble and a fruit pie.

Some recipes I have seen, instruct you to cover the pie with pastry and when nearly cooked, make a few cracks in the pastry, press it down into the juices in the pan, and then cook for a further 5 -10 minutes.

Other recipes, like this one, use small pieces of pastry overlapping. It is thought that this version of the recipe came about as a way of using up the bits and pieces of left-over pastry. Not only am I a sucker for pies, I just love the idea of creating a delicious hot pie in minutes from pastry left overs – this can be shortcrust, sweet pastry, puff or flaky.

The recipes I found use lots of different fruits, some of which need cooking first and some of which do not. The most traditional early recipes it seems, used apples. As a guide, any fruit base which you can top with a Crumble (or crisp) or an Eve’s style pudding, can also be used for a Pandowdy.

Although it can be eaten as is, we love to eat it with ice cream, cream or custard and I even love it for breakfast with natural yoghurt. It is also very easy to make this dessert in small quantities – perfect if you are cooking for just 1 or 2.

How to make a Pandowdy

You don’t really need a recipe, it is so simple, but here are a few pointers.

Collect all your ingredients together:

• fruit – cooked or uncooked
• sweetener, if necessary – eg sugar, honey, maple syrup
• cornflour – if using raw fruit (optional)
• leftover pastry – either shortcrust, sweet, puff or flaky
• beaten egg or milk
• sugar – for sprinkling on the pastry. I like to use Demerara.

How to make a Pandowdy cooking the fruit at the same time as the pastry.

I have used blueberries here. They are naturally very sweet and I prefer not to add extra sugar. Adding the Demerara on the pastry makes a lovely sweet, as well as, crunchy topping.

However, if you are using fruit which needs sweetening, toss in sugar, maple syrup or honey to taste and add a little cornflour to thicken the juices

1. Place your fruit (and sugar/cornflour) into an ovenproof bowl/pan and top with ripped scraps of pastry, overlapping most of them but a few gaps are OK
2. Brush with beaten egg. If you don’t want to use a whole egg, use milk instead. Any leftover egg though, can be used in scrambled egg, an omelette or a stir fry – don’t waste it!
3. Sprinkle over some sugar
4. Bake! I always put the dish on a baking tray – just in case the fruit spills over the sides.

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Raspberry Pandowdy covered with pastry stars:

I used raspberries in this one and a star cutter for the pastry. I mixed 500g raspberries with 50g sugar and ½ tablespoon cornflour.

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How to make a Pandowdy using cooked fruit

The photographs here are for cooked apple. Cook your fruit and sweeten it to taste in advance. Let it cool before topping it with the pastry.

1. Place your cooked fruit into an ovenproof bowl and top with the pastry, overlapping most of them but a few gaps are OK. This time I actually cut the pastry out with heart shaped cutters.
2. You might not need all the pastry – just cut out enough to cover the top.
3. Brush with beaten egg. If you don’t want to use a whole egg, use milk instead. Any leftover egg though, can be used in scrambled egg, an omelette or a stir fry – don’t waste it!
4. Sprinkle over some sugar.
5. Bake! I always put the dish on a baking tray – just in case the fruit spills over the sides.

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Made this recipe?

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