This easy all-American dessert must have been created by some frustrated cook that just couldn't get their pie crust right!
Next time try this easy peach cobbler!
Jump to:
❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
- tangy sweet apples.
- no fuss crust.
- mix between a cobbler and a pie.
An apple pan dowdy recipe is like a very casual apple pie.
It's a simple, old fashioned dessert that will have you smiling over every sweet bite.
Pandowdy (pan dowdy) is perfect for those of us that have trouble with pie crust - there's no bottom crust and the top is made up of squares of pastry sprinkled with coarse sugar crystals for a little sweet crunch.
It's a cozy fall dessert your family will love.
🥫 Storage
Cover tightly with plastic wrap or spoon into an airtight container and keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
You can freeze this for up to 3 months for longer storage.
💭 Things to know
- Save time by using a purchased crust.
- Use a star, leaf, or other shaped cookie cutter to cut out the upper crust pieces.
- The bourbon adds extra flavor that's warm and cozy but you can leave it out if you wish. Substitute with the same amount of apple cider or juice.
- You can add a teaspoon of vanilla extract if you'd like. It adds an almost creamy flavor.
- Turbinado sugar or larger sugar crystals can be sprinkled over the top of the pie dough before baking to add extra texture.
- If you'd like to use just white sugar instead of part brown sugar then drop the apple slices in a large bowl filled with water and about ¼ cup lemon juice before cooking them.
- You can substitute pears or peaches for the apples. Delish!
- When you push the pastry down partway through cooking you don't want to push it to the bottom. Just gently submerge until it's covered with the syrup then let it come back up to the top.
- If you don't have an iron skillet you can use a 9-inch cake pan - round or square.
- Adding a little lemon zest will perk up the flavor of apples that aren't as flavorful as you'd like.
- Bourbon apple pandowdy is best served warm (with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream if you're so inclined).
👩🏻🍳 Frequently asked questions
It is not a beautiful dessert but it is a comfortable one. Think of it as a skillet apple pie.
While Anne Shirley would have certainly eaten it Jay Gatsby never would have. Bourbon Apple Pandowdy, served warm with a scoop of ice cream melting into the syrup is comfort food in the strictest sense of the word.
What's the Origin of Apple Pandowdy?
Pandowdies were well known in Colonial America and into the 19th century. According to an 1849 cookbook the dish was known as a pandowdy in the north and a brown betty in the south.
It evolved, like so many dishes, from recipes that were handed down through the centuries and no one really knows where it began.
We think it got the name because the top crust is cut up or "dowdied".
Using a combination of apples will give you the most flavor. Choose a mixture from the following:
HoneyCrisp
MacIntosh
Granny Smith
Braeburn
Winesap
Regional Heirloom varieties
Find more information about the different flavors of apple varieties in this article from the University of Illinois
📚 Related recipes
I love a good apple dessert in the fall! Here are some of my favorites here on Restless Chipotle.
- Irish Apple Cake with Whiskey Brown Butter Sauce is an imagination inspiring addition to your table whether as dessert after dinner or a mid-afternoon pick me up. One bite and you’ll be imagining faded chintz sofas, crackling fires, and steaming cups of good Irish tea.
- Apple Spice Bundt Cake is the best apple cake recipe ever! Chunks of tangy apples are stirred into a spice cake batter along with buttery pecans and a generous amount of whiskey - your house will smell luscious!
- Apple Fritter Bread is full of all of the apple and cinnamon goodness of apple fritters in the form of a quick bread thats a delicious addition to an autumn brunch!
- Candy Apple Pie tastes just like an old-fashioned candy apple! Spicy, sweet, cinnamon syrup bathes tangy Granny Smith apples to create an unforgettable dessert everyone loves.
- Cinnamon Apples are as gorgeous as they are delicious! Tangy apples are simmered in cinnamon syrup until they are infused with crimson color and spicy cinnamon flavor.
- Grandma's Dutch Apple Pie always comes out just right with a lavish layer of crumble over tender autumn spiced apples. This is a classic!
What’s new? Check out my Restless Chipotle & Co. Store on Amazon where you'll find all kinds of nostalgic goodness! Thanks so much for being a part of Restless Chipotle!
📞 The last word
What is apple pan dowdy you ask?
Well, some would say that it's a dessert born in Colonial America, made of apples and dough but I say it's a godsend for those who can't get a pie crust onto a pie without it falling apart.
There is no bottom crust and the top crust is cut up pie dough or biscuit dough.
For my recipe a thick layer of tender apples is simmered in a bourbon and cinnamon spiked sugar syrup with a little chipotle to kick up the heat.
Then large squares of buttery pastry are dropped on top and the whole thing is baked.
Part way through the baking time you push the pastry down into the apples so that it soaks up all of that sweet and spicy sauce.
Served warm with cinnamon ice cream or a big scoop of vanilla ice cream it is everything you want on a crisp fall day - or on a 90 degree Texas day when you wish it was a crisp fall day!
I like to drizzle a little maple syrup over the top, too. I mean, YOLO, right?
This recipe uses a tweaked pie dough that bakes crisp, buttery, and crumbly.
It's made in an iron skillet where the apples are simmered in a rich, flavorful sauce before the pastry is put on and the whole thing is baked.
When it comes out of the oven the crispy pastry is swathed in the thick, spicy sauce so every bite is crumbly-crispy and tender-sweet. The tiny bit of chipotle I add sort of kicks you at the end of the bite just to let you know it's in there.
You don't have to add it.
I usually put the iron skillet on top of an old baking pan to catch any juices that might overflow.
Don't wait to try this recipe!
It's especially good if you have an orchard nearby where you can go apple picking.
There's something about the fresh, snappy flavors that give this apple dessert a little extra oomph.
If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need. Don't forget that you can click on "add to collection" to save it to your own, private recipe box!
If you love this recipe please give it a 5 star rating. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Bourbon Apple Pandowdy
Print SaveEquipment Needed
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 cup flour, plus more for dusting counter top
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons ice-cold water
For the Apples
- 6 pounds Granny Smith apples, (about 6 large) or mixed varieties
- ½ cup bourbon
- ½ cup unsalted butter, (one stick)
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon cloves
- ⅛ to ¼ teaspoon chipotle powder, or to taste
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- Sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
Step one: crust
- Add the flour, butter, sugar, baking powder, and salt to a food processor bowl.
- Process until the mixture is crumbly.
- Add the water and pulse until the dough forms a ball.
- Pat the dough into a disk and wrap in waxed paper.
- Chill for 30 minutes.
Step two: apples
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Core, peel, and slice the apples into thick slices - between ¼ and ½ inch thickness.
- Add the ½ cup butter, bourbon, sugar, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, apples, and chipotle to a 15-inch cast iron skillet.
- Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 15 minutes, or until apples are tender. If you're using a regular skillet you'll want to pour the apples into a greased cake pan at this point.
Step three: assemble
- Roll out the dough about ⅛-inch thick.
- Cut into squares.
- Drop the squares on the simmering apple mixture.
- Brush with cream and sprinkle with sugar.
Step four: bake
- Bake for 20 minutes.
- Push the dough gently into the apples mixture.
- Bake for 20 minutes more, or until crust is crispy and golden.
Notes
- HoneyCrisp
- MacIntosh
- Granny Smith
- Braeburn
- Winesap
- Regional Heirloom varieties
- Save time by using a purchased crust.
- You can leave the bourbon out if you wish. Substitute with the same amount of apple cider or juice.
- You can substitute pears or peaches for the apples. Delish!
- When you push the pastry down partway through cooking you don't want to push it to the bottom. Just gently submerge until it's covered with the syrup then let it come back up to the top.
- If you don't have an iron skillet you can use a 9-inch cake pan - round or square.
- Bourbon apple pandowdy is best served warm.
Nutrition Facts
Sign up for the emails and never miss another recipe!!
We'll never share your email or send you spam. Pinkie swear.First published May 28, 2015. Last updated July 11, 2021 for readability and updating code.
charlie
Other reviewers don’t seem to have actually made it and been amazed — as I have — with the exotic chipotle addition to the already sweet/savory fruity crusty dessert⋯ Well that's what made me want to try making it. And... (it’s still in the oven)... and wow that’s really different and delicious in a sort of unexpected way. I doubled the chipotle and the cinnamon, and ended up cooking another 40 minutes to get the dough to crisp. Also did one 12-inch and one 10-inch cast-iron skillets. Yay! Super unusual and tasty dessert, awesome with vanilla ice cream, unlike any apple thing I’ve ever had. Thanks！
Marye
I am so glad you liked it!
Shashi at RunninSrilankan
Marye, I've never had or heard of a pandowdy before and I must say, I love it! I'm not the best at pie crusts either so this would definitely work for me - besides - it's laced with a combo of chipotle and bourbon! How amazing is that combo! Such a comforting dish and so totally decadent too!
Nicole Taggart
Never heard of a pandowdy before, but I want one now!
Marye Audet
🙂 Oh they are so good!
allie @ Through Her Looking Glass
Oh my goodness. you are totally right Marye. I have NEVER seen anything quite like this. Love apples. And bourbon. And chipotle too. (LOVE that it goes with your site name! 🙂 ) So anyway, this Bourbon Apple Pandowdy is nothing short of divine and I am pinning it this very moment so we can enjoy it very soon. (In a cast iron skillet of course.)