Raspberry Pear Pandowdy

For this recipe, use ripe pears (and if you use Bartlett pears, there’s no need to peel them). It’s always tempting to use overly ripe fruit in desserts such as this because essentially you’re just baking the fruit down. But if you do that here, you’ll end up with nothing more than a mushy pandowdy. You really do want the pieces of pear to hold a bit of their shape. You may certainly skip the ginger in the crust and those of you who dislike the flavor obviously will. However, it was quite subtle and added a slight warmness to the buttery crust that I would certainly miss.

Recipe from: Rustic Fruit Desserts

Ingredients

For Fruit Filling:

1/2 cup (3.5 ounces) granulated sugar

2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch

Pinch of fine sea salt

4 large pears, peeled, cored, and sliced (2 pounds prepped)

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 dry pint raspberries, fresh of frozen (2 cups or 9 ounces)

1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

For biscuit topping:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (8 3/4 ounces)

3 tablespoons plus 1 tablespoon (1 3/4 ounces) granulated sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

10 tablespoons (5 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

1/3 cup chopped candied ginger (2 ounces)

2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon cold buttermilk

Instructions

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 400 F. Butter a 9-inch pie pan. To make the fruit filling, combine the sugar, cornstarch, and salt together in a large bowl, then add the pears and lemon juice and toss until evenly coated. Gently fold in the raspberries and transfer to prepared pan. Distribute the butter atop the fruit.

To make the biscuit: whisk the flour, 3 tablespoons of the sugar, the baking powder, and the salt together in a bowl. Add the butter and toss until evenly coated. Using your fingers or a pastry blender, cut in the butter until it’s the size of large peas, then transfer to a bowl. Stir in the ginger, then pour in the 2/3 cup buttermilk and stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. The dough will be crumbly and the pieces of butter will be visible.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and press together, then press into a 9 inch circle. Don’t bother rolling it out–remember, this is a “rustic” dessert. Carefully place dough atop fruit. Brush dough with the 1 tablespoon buttermilk, then sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar. Place pie pan on baking sheet to catch drips. Bake in the lower third of the oven for 30 minutes. Then turn oven down to 350 and bake an additional 20 minutes or until pastry is golden and juices are bubbly and thick. Allow to cool for 30 minutes before serving. Covered with a tea towel, this pandowdy will keep at room temperature for 3 days.