Apple Pan Dowdy

Servings: 6
Ingredients:

Butter (for ramekins)                    -- packed
12 sl Bread, white, firm                1/2 ts Cinnamon
6 tb Butter, unsalted, or more         1/4 ts Nutmeg, finely grated
Sugar                               3 tb Rum, dark
4 lg Apples, baking (Rome                2 tb Juice, lemon
-- other not-too-tart               1 tb Vanilla
-- variety) peeled, cored,          5 tb Butter, unsalted, chilled
-- quarters cut cross-wise               -- cut into small pieces
-- into 1/4-inch slices             1 c  Cream, whipping, lightly
3 tb Molasses                                 -- whipped, sweetened with
1/2 c  Sugar, light brown, firmly               -- sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Butter six 8-ounce ramekins or souffle dishes. (Ramekins are
round cup-cake-like porcelain cups that are used
to bake souffles, and such.)

Use a cutter to cut slices of bread into 12 rounds that fit into
the dishes you’ve chosen to use. Spread the rounds with softened
butter on both sides, and sprinkle 1 side of each round with a little
sugar.

Place 1 bread round in each dish, sugared side down. Reserve 6
of the rounds for tops.

Toss your sliced apples with molasses, brown sugar, cinnamon,
nutmeg, rum, lemon juice, vanilla and pieces of butter until well
coated.

Spoon the apple mixture into the ramekins filling them nearly
full and spooning some of the juices over the top.

Top each dish with a reserved bread round, sugared side up.

Place the ramekins in a roasting pan and then place the pan on the
center rack of the oven. Pour an inch of hot water into the
roasting pan around the ramekins.

Bake until the bread tops are golden brown, about 25 minutes.

Serve warm in ramekins with whipped cream on the side.
Source: New York’s Master Chefs, Bon Appetit Magazine
: Written by Richard Sax, Photographs by Nancy McFarland
: The Knapp Press, Los Angeles, 1985

Chef: Larry Forgione, An American Place Restaurant, New York

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