For Mary DiSomma, baking has been woven into the fibers of her life for as long as she can remember. Growing up in an Italian-American family, where food was a love language, she watched her mother create hundreds of cookies to share with friends, neighbors, and family during the holidays, and later learned to bake traditional Italian sweets herself. Today, Mary is an enthusiastic and imaginative baker of cookies and pies, a philanthropist, and entrepreneur. She has turned her love and talent for baking into a business that includes a blog, webstore, and videos. She is the author an publisher of two cookbooks - A Gift of Cookies: Recipies to Share with Family & Friends, and her most recent, available this month, My Life in Pies: Sweet and Savory Recipes Inspired by Family & Friends.
Her passion for giving back shines bright. Since volunteering for two non-profit organizations, Hephzibah Home and Infant Welfare Society, she became so moved by their missions she decided to donate 100% of the sales of her cookbooks, split evenly between the two.
Here, Mary shares with us one of her favorite sweet treats from her latest cookbook, available on line and in select bookstores.
Apple Blackberry Pandowdy
Ingredients:
Pie crust (for homemade recipe, check out marydisomma.com or Mary's cookbook)
2 pounds (8 cups sliced), Granny Smith or Honeycrisp apples, peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons (2 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into cubes
½ cup apple juice (more if needed)
1 pint fresh blackberries, rinsed and patted dry
1 large egg
1 tablespoon cream
Demerara or raw sugar
Directions:
1. Turn the dough out on a lightly floured work surface and press together into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
2. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the apples and lemon juice in a bowl and toss to combine.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, spices, and salt. Sprinkle this mixture on top of the apples and toss gently to combine.
4. In a 9-inch cast iron skillet, melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter. Add the apple mixture and cook for 2 minutes, stirring often, to soften the apples. Add ½ cup of apple juice and stir to combine. Continue to simmer the mixture until the liquid gets thick and starts to stick to the pan. If the mixture seems too thick, drizzle in a little more apple juice as needed.
5. On a lightly floured work surface, roll the pie dough into a 12-inch square. Cut into 2-inch squares. It’s ok if they are not perfect!
6. Sprinkle the fresh blackberries on top of the apples in the cast iron skillet. Place the pastry squares around the top of the skillet, leaving some space between the squares so the mixture “bubbles up” over the crust as it bakes.
7. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and cream. Using a pastry brush, lightly glaze the top of the pastry squares with the egg mixture. Sprinkle with the raw sugar. Place the cast iron skillet on a baking sheet pan. The pan will catch any juices that may boil over during baking. Bake for 35 to 30 minutes or until the top crust is a deep golden brown and the fruit mixture starts to bubble over the crust slightly.
8. Remove from the oven and let cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Scoop the pandowdy into serving bowls and serve with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream.