"Boscoe Bakes"......"Springish" Fruit Pandowdy

The other day my room mate received a "belated" holiday gift basket, and one of the goodies included in this Harry and David assortment was a box of their famous pears.  Now these pears have a relatively short shelf life, so I decided that a pie or tart, mixed with some of my granny smith apples, would be a great way to use them up quickly. However, after a quick trip to the store and being inundated by the fresh strawberry, raspberry and blackberry specials in the produce section, I quickly changed my mind. I had made a pandowdy just a couple of weeks ago, but my Wednesday night group loves that old fashioned dish, so this beautiful bounty learned of it's new destination and pandowdy it was. For the fruit this time, I used 5 pears, 6 apples, 2 quarts of strawberries, 2 pints of raspberries, 1 pint of blackberries and the zest and juice of one orange. Again, I added a touch of rum, but next time I think a splash of Chambord would work nicely as well. The nutmeg and allspice were omitted, but otherwise I followed the recipe as before. I had hoped to share a picture of the pandowdy plated and topped with whipped cream, but before I knew it, everything was gone! Try this recipe next time you have a bounty of fresh fruit and want a wonderful dessert without all the fuss.