apple pandowdy

One of my addictions is books. I love books. Gardening books. Bird books. Romances. Mysteries. But especially cookbooks. If they have colored pictures, all the better! Bookstores are a dangerous place for us to go because we can never get away without buying several, each. When we go South, we always hit a Barnes and Noble at least a couple times, walking out with bag fulls. My hubby and I went into our local bookstore last week looking for an Easter book for my grandbaby and walked out with this Big Sky Cooking. I'm not certain if I bought it for the recipes or for the pictures. It's a lovely picture book of a lifestyle we constantly long for. Home on the Range! The Western lifestyle. Lovely, lovely.

The kids came over for dinner last night and I hate to say it, but it was THE WORST dinner I've ever made! We've been eating a lot of pot roasts lately because they've been so good and are so versatile, but last night's was so tough you couldn't even chew it. The only thing it was good for, besides tossing to the three dogs waiting in the wings.... was to grind it up for hash. Horrible horrible meal.

But dessert was good! One of the recipes that attracted me about the Big Sky Cookbook was for apple pandowdy. It's similar to an apple pie but without the bottom crust. The recipe is so simple to make, although it does take at least two hours to prepare and cook. You make the top crust dough, then let it sit in the fridge for 30 minutes. Then you roll it out and cut the dough into 3" squares and then put it back in the fridge for at least another 30 minutes to overnight. The dough is then laid on top of the apple mixture in a haphazard manner. Once you start baking, you bake for 30 minutes and then baste it with the juices and then bake for another 30 minutes. It's a much different process than anything I've made but so simple and very good. The recipe is too long to put here, but if you're interested in it, just send me an email and I'll forward it to you.

Have a great Monday! Nancy