This is a print preview of "Granny Smith's Apple Pandowdy" recipe.

Granny Smith's Apple Pandowdy Recipe
by Amos Miller

Granny Smith's Apple Pandowdy

Makes your eyes bug out & your stomach say "Howdy!" Fusion can be confusin', so let's get back to an ol' timey American dessert, not found on menus in fancy restaurants. This is just good country food, like I got when I'd have dinner at Nellie Keeling's home up Horse Mill Hollow, near Glasgow, W. Va.

Pandowdy is a highly aromatic, palate pleasing, tummy comforting way to end a meal of your best fried chicken recipe, grilled steak or a BBQ sandwich.

Or you could just cuddle up on the sofa with a bowl of this creation that you've gussied up with a dollop of whipped cream, or a scoop of your favorite ice cream. Now, pop a movie into the player and relax...

Rating: 5/5
Avg. 5/5 2 votes
Prep time: United States American
Cook time: Servings: 8

Ingredients

  • 4 c of your favorite tart apples - Granny Smith is my choice - peeled, and thinly sliced. (About 5 apples will fill a deep dish like the one in the photo)
  • 1-1/4 c all purpose flour (or your favorite gluten free flour)
  • 3/4 c dark brown sugar, packed
  • 1/4 c vanilla sugar (split and bury 1 vanilla bean in a jar of 2 cups of granulated sugar for at least 1 week, preferably longer)
  • 1/4 lb cooked and finely diced bacon (optional, but it works for me)
  • 1 tsp + 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp grated nutmeg
  • 3/4 tsp fine sea salt
  • 1 c water
  • 6 tbsp sweet butter
  • 1 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice (put the rest of the lemon in your Preserved Lemon jar)
  • 2/3 c whole milk
  • 2 tsp baking powder

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375^
  2. Whisk together the vanilla sugar and the 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon
  3. Grease a baking dish well with butter or buttery Crisco - or lard!
  4. In a 2 qt sauce pan, combine the brown sugar and the diced cooked bacon, 1 tsp of the cinnamon, the nutmeg, 1/4 tsp of sea salt and cook together for a few minutes to 'candy' the bacon bits - then add a 1/4 cup of the flour, and combine well
  5. After the mixture has thickened, stir in 2 tbsp of butter and the tbsp of lemon juice
  6. Add the water and stir to cook the flour and make a thick, rich caramel sauce. Set aside.
  7. Prepare the apples - peel, cut in halves and slice thin. (You need not core them. Just slice from the outside to the core, then slice 1/4" matchsticks to the core, leaving - the core!
  8. Layer the apples in the greased baking dish
  9. Use the matchsticks to fill in spaces between apple slices
  10. Pour the thickened sauce over the apples in the baking dish
  11. In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 cup of flour, 1/2 tsp sea salt and the baking powder
  12. Cut in the 4 tbsp of butter (or lard!) until the mixture is a crumble
  13. Using a flex spatula, stir in the whole milk to form a soft dough
  14. Spoon the dough (you should get about 8 nice drop biscuits) on top of the apples in the dish
  15. Sprinkle the vanilla sugar cinnamon mixture on top of the drop biscuits - use as much or as little as you like, saving the leftover for French Toast tomorrow
  16. Bake at 375^ for 45 minutes, or until the biscuits are nicely browned and the apples tender
  17. Enjoy a bit(e) of America!