Cinnamon Pear and Apple Ginger Pandowdy with the Makers of Ball® Home Canning Products
This post is sponsored by the makers of Ball® home canning products.*
It has been a while since I have made a colonial inspired recipe! If you are a long time reader, you may remember my little series called Colonial Kitchen here on the blog. While I miss that, I have really been interested in 19th century recipes, something I hope to dive more into as we finish out the year, and really what I have been sharing so far already (though my posts are bit scarce as of late).
As canning season comes to a close, I had to dig into some of my preserves already! It is National Canning Day, after all! I absolutely love the intensely autumn flavor of the Ball® Cinnamon Pears in Apple Juice, a recipe I made last month. I thought it would make a wonderful fall baked dish, especially one as historical as this: pandowdy!
Pandowdy is an early American dish, dating back to the early colonial settlers. Known to be Abigail Adam’s favorite dessert, it is one that is plainly simple and delicious. Simple pie filling, traditionally paired with apple cider, and covered in a flaky biscuit crust. It is also often cooked in a cast iron skillet! Sometimes you will see pandowdy’s made with a pie crust or puff pastry topping, and no one knows for sure what the right way is to cover your “dowdy".”
ingredients & recipe:
cinnamon pear FILLING:
1 Ball® Pint Jar of Cinnamon Pears in Apple Juice or Canned Pears in Juice
3 1/2 pounds fresh apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp all purpose flour
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp lemon juice
1-inch knob of ginger, grated
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
BISCUIT topping:
2 cups all purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp sugar
pinch of salt
1/4 cup butter, cold and cubed
1/4 cup leaf lard, cold and cubed
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 tbsp buttermilk
raw sugar for dusting
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your oven to 425° F. Grease a 9-inch cast iron skillet with lard or butter.
In a large bowl, mix together the pears and their juices, apples, brown sugar, 1 tbsp flour, maple syrup, vanilla, lemon juice, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt until well coated.
Pour the apple mixture into the cast iron skillet. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the 2 cups flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. With a pastry blender, cut in the butter and lard.
Incorporate the buttermilk with a fork until a dough ball begins to form. Knead gently with your hands about 6 times. Place on a lightly floured surface. Roll out the biscuit dough to about 1/4 inch thick.
Place on top of the apples and pears. Spread out as far to the edges as possible. Slice the biscuit dough into squares.
Brush with 1 tbsp buttermilk and sprinkle liberally with raw sugar.
Bake for 20 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 350° F and bake for another 15-20 minutes.
Serve hot with whipped cream or ice cream.
I decided to pair the pandowdy with the tanginess of freshly grated ginger. It really packed a punch! This particular recipe has a distinctive autumn flavor, a bit of zing, full bodied spiciness, and the biscuit topping comes from my favorite way to make shortcakes, a lighter and sweeter biscuit that just falls apart in your mouth. So good!
You can learn to make the Ball® Cinnamon Pears in Apple Juice here. To shop the Ball® Nesting Jars, click here!
xoxo Kayla
*Disclosure: This post is sponsored by the makers of Ball® home canning products that is part of an ongoing partnership with the Fresh Preserving Division of Newell Brands. They have provided jars, equipment and monetary compensation. All thoughts and opinions expressed remain my own.
