Once You ‘Dowdy’ an Apple Pie, You'll Never Go Back

The old-fashioned apple pandowdy is a fuss-free fall dessert.

Brown sugar-sweetened apples baked under a pastry crust that has been broken into syrup-coated pieces. Kelli Foster/TNS

Apple pie is one of the best parts of fall, but it takes a lot of work to serve a perfect slice of pie. Luckily, there’s an old-fashioned answer to this dessert dilemma: An apple pandowdy is everything you love about apple pie, but with much less work.

In this recipe, we top brown sugar-sweetened apples with a buttery pie crust and bake until golden and flaky. Once the pandowdy comes out of the oven, you take a spoon and break the crust so that the syrupy juices seep up from underneath. The apple pandowdy will look messy, but the syrup-covered crust serves as a sweet, crisp contrast to the tender apple filling beneath.

What Is an Apple Pandowdy?

An apple pandowdy is an old-fashioned baked fruit dessert with a “dowdied” or broken pastry topping. An apple pan dowdy is traditionally sweetened with molasses or maple syrup, but in this recipe we’re using dark brown sugar.

Why Is It Called Apple Pandowdy?

The term “dowdy” means frumpy or messy. In order to “dowdy” this baked dessert, break up the crust with the back of a large spoon. The syrupy juices of the filling coat the edges of the broken crust, which will cool to create a sweet lacquer over the crispy pastry.