Monday was such a beautiful day. After a stretch of hot weather, a cool breeze finally came our way! The sky was clear and bright, trees rustling - it almost felt like fall had come (my favorite season!). This unexpected treat brought with it the undeniable desire to bake.
Last year, I discovered a great new baking book at the library, Rustic Fruit Desserts. Since cutting gluten out of my diet a few months ago, I've been anxious to try adapting one of my favorite recipes. This seemed like the perfect opportunity. Below is my loose adaptation of the Gingered Pear and Raspberry Pandowdy recipe. Have you ever had a pandowdy? I never had before this. The book does a great job describing many old-fashioned dessert types (Slumps, Buckles, etc). Having made and eaten it, my definition of this pandowdy would be pie filling with a giant scone on top (Mmmm...). Add some vanilla ice cream on the side (which I did) and it is heaven!
Gluten free notes in blue
Ingredients:
Filling
1/2 c. granulated sugar
2 tbsp. + 1 tsp. cornstarch or tapioca
Pinch of fine sea salt
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. cold unsalted butter
2 c. fresh raspberries and 4 lg. pears, peeled, cored and sliced (the original)
or
4 c. fresh summer berries and 2 lg. apples or pears, peeled, cored and sliced (shown here: for fruit I used a mix of blueberries, black raspberries and red raspberries + 2 apples)
Biscuit
1 3/4 c. flour 1 1/4 c. gluten free flour (such as Gluten Free Pantry) + 1/2 c. bean flour (i.e. Garbanzo or Soy)
3 tbsp. + 1 tbsp. granulated sugar
3/4 tsp. baking powder gluten free baking powder
1/2 tsp. fine sea salt
10 tbsp. cold unsalted butter cut into small cubes
1/3 c. chopped candied ginger
2/3 c. + 1 tbsp. cold buttermilk
Preheat the oven to 400 F. Butter a 9" deep dish pan. For the fruit filling, place fruit in a large bowl. Sprinkle with lemon juice, salt and cornstarch/tapioca. Stir gingerly to coat and carefully transfer to prepared baking dish. Dot with pieces of butter.
To prepare the biscuit, whisk the flour, 3 tbsp. of sugar, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Add the butter and toss gently to coat. Next, use a pastry cutter to cut in the butter until it is the size of small peas (you could also do this with a few pulses in a food processor). Stir in the candied ginger. Then, pour in the 2/3 c. buttermilk and stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened. The dough will be crumbly with chunks of butter.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface (I use parchment paper or plastic wrap as the surface for easy transfer). Gently press the dough together and then lightly form into a 9 inch circle. From my experience (my hands tend to melt the butter fast) the less you touch and work the dough, the better.
Carefully place the dough atop the fruit and brush with the remaining buttermilk. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 tbsp. sugar.
Bake in the lower third of the oven for 30 minutes and then reduce the heat to 350 F and bake for another 20 minutes, until the biscuit is golden and the juices are bubbling. Allow to cool for 30 minutes before serving. (Sorry, I can't wait that long!)
I made a lot of substitutions. But, I think that this is a recipe that adapts really well. You can definitely play around with this and make your own great combination! It was supposed to be a fall recipe, but I used what I had on-hand - fresh summer berries and a couple apples. By the way, I love the ginger in the topping. I don't know when I finally discovered candied ginger, but now I use it all the time to make baked goods extra comforting and warming. (great for when those fall days finally come). Happy baking! :-)
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