For starters, how about that name? “Pandowdy” has the most charming ring to it, don’t you think? The recipe itself, what with its ease of preparation and simple ingredient list, is equally as charming. A fruit pandowdy is a lot like a pie but with much less work involved – especially my recipe here. There’s nary a lattice to be found, no pastry making anywhere in sight (although, you absolutely could make your own pastry and use that – that would be wonderful), and with a name like “pandowdy” you’ve already managed to charm people before they’ve even begun to partake of the pandowdy itself. Win. win. win. Today’s Easy Brown Butter Any Fruit Pandowdy really exemplifies all these truths quite nicely.
What is a pandowdy?
A pandowdy is, to me, best described as a sort of deep dish pan pie, although to avoid confusing this confection with pizzas that are defined much in the same way, we’ll nix the word “pan” and just say it is like a deep dish fruit pie, with the crust “dowdied up” a bit by tearing and cutting it into haphazard pieces, rather than latticing or rolling it out whole.
Yes, that fetching funnel-cake like shingling of pastry that crowns this brown butter pandowdy is, in my opinion, what makes it so alluring, and it is also what qualifies it as a “pandowdy” and not just another fruit pie. I use pieces of store-bought puff pastry here, and I just twist them and lay them lazily atop the fruit filling (apples, pictured here), paying little mind to rhyme or reason. The word “dowdy” requires that you keep things easy and “perfectly imperfect.” When you brush the top with more brown butter and shower it with extra sugar (or cinnamon sugar!), what you end up with is something reminiscent of funnel cake, or churros, perched atop a perfect fruity pie filling. There is simply nothing not to like about that.
How Do You Make a Pandowdy?
Well, now that we know what a pandowdy is, is only logically follows that we get a good feel for how one is made – what the construction is.
- Fresh seasonal fruit: For my photo purposes and because they’re still abundant in all their gorgeous autumnal glory, I went with apples here. But you could truly swap in 4 pounds of just about any fruit you see fit. Sliced pears with a handful of dried cranberries. Mixed springtime berries. Persimmons with vanilla bean paste and figs. Summertime stone fruits.
- Lemon: The bright, tart acidity of fresh lemon juice AND zest really help to deepen and broaden the sweetness of this recipe. You often see lemon used, in one way or another, when baking fruit desserts and it really serves to boost the flavors of the fruits themselves. I liken it to the frequent use of coffee when baking with chocolate – it just makes the chocolate taste more, well, chocolatey.
- Salt: Similar to how the lemon helps to bring out the flavor of the fruit, and to balance the sugars, salt essentially does the same thing. We’re trying to built a depth of flavor here, and any time you are baking or making something very sweet, you’ll need to add a little salt – not much – to help temper that sweetness. It’s all about balance at the end of the day.
- Sugars, spice, everything nice: The combination of brown sugar and a crunchy sugar crust (from either granulated or turbinado sugar) really helps create the perfect sweetness, balancing out the fruit flavors perfectly. I like to use cinnamon and vanilla in my recipe, as they tend to go with everything, but please feel free to break away and use whatever sweet spices you like: nutmeg, chai spices, allspice, mace. Put that spice drawer to work!
- Store-bought puff pastry: Part of the beauty of today’s recipe is the fact that we’re not making any pastry – we’re buying it. The fine folks at Pepperidge Farm have already spent their blood, sweat and tears over the stuff, so we might as well use that. You could use pie pastry here – no problem. But I love how the puff pastry let’s you play. Once thawed, you can really have your way with it, twisting and turning it every which way to achieve that intentionally messy, bed head sort of appearance that this pandowdy’s got going on. The puff pastry is really the hero in this story …
The filling here is extremely delicious though, if I do say so myself, and it acquires said deliciousness from the combination of fresh ginger, lemon zest and juice, cinnamon, and brown butter that get tossed to high heaven before piling inside your baking dish.
Now, you could argue that we’re in the height of apple season right now – full-on fall, just on the cusp of the holidays. And so. I went with apples this time, but I have made more pandowdies than I can count, and I’ve sampled everything from strawberry-rhubarb to vanilla-persimmon – the fruit world is your oyster here. The idea is just to toss your fruit in the sugar, lemon juice, ginger, and brown butter and then flavor it/spice it as you like. Bake till golden and bubbly. That’s really it. One fact remains evergreen here: It’s always the right time bust out a pandowdy.
It’s really hard to screw this one up, guys. And that, to me, is always the sign of a solid recipe. My Kitchen Little approved through and through.
Enjoy!
Easy Brown Butter Any Fruit Pandowdy
A rustically simple yet massively flavorful fruit pie of sorts, ready for riffing and flavor swapping, as you see fit. This mixture of flavorings is universally applicable and will work with everything from apples and pears to berries and rhubarb – use whatever is seasonal or sounds good to you. This easy mixture is especially delicious, in my humble opinion, and great when served with generous scoops of melty vanilla ice cream.
- Yield: 6 servings
- Method: Baking
Ingredients
6 TBSP unsalted butter
4 lbs. sliced or bite-sized fruit – such as apples, plums, pears, rhubarb and strawberries, or mixed berries
¾ cup packed dark brown sugar
3 TBSP all-purpose flour
The zest and juice of one lemon (about 2 TBSP juice)
1 TBSP vanilla extract
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1-inch piece fresh ginger peeled and finely grated
1/2 tsp salt
1 package frozen puff pastry thawed, cut into roughly 3/4-inch strips
Granulated or turbinado sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
1. Preheat your oven to 425°F. Add the butter to a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook the butter, swirling the pan often, until it has fully melted, has turned a golden brown color, and smells toasty; about 5 minutes. Set this aside for now.
2. In a large bowl, toss the fruit, brown sugar, flour, lemon juice and zest, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and all but 2 Tbsp of the browned butter. Transfer this mixture to a shallow 3-quart baking dish.
3. Twist and tear the puff pastry and lay the pieces in a haphazard manner on top of the fruit filling (as pictured). There’s no real rhyme or reason required here – just create a pastry design that speaks to YOU. Brush the pastry with the leftover brown butter, and sprinkle with granulated sugar.
4. Bake until pastry is puffed and golden around edges, about 25–30 minutes. Lower the temp to 350°F and bake until the juices are thick and bubbling and pastry is brown all over, about 25 to 30 minutes longer.
5. Serve your pandowdy warm with vanilla ice cream or sweetened whipped cream, if you like.
Keywords: Easy Apple Brown Butter Pandowdy
