Anyone who has spent any significant time with me knows that I am a big proponent of afternoon tea.  I guess it's my English mother and my years living in England, but every afternoon, at around 4, should you happen by, you will be undoubtably be offered a cup of tea.  I'm mad for just the right thing to go with that tea and am always on the prowl for good candidates.

Last week while I was on my apple brown Betty quest, I was perusing my beloved Richard Sax cookbook, "Classic Home Desserts" and stumbled upon this incredible recipe for "Grasmere Gingerbread" aka oatmeal shortbread squares.  I knew, just by reading it, that I was going to love it, and sure enough, they're possibly the quintessential afternoon tea dainty. At least this afternoon they surely are.

If you didn't already know it, I can be a bit of a kook when it comes to food.  I'm clearly thinking about it,  sometimes stewing about it, even when I'm  asleep.   Many times I wake up with either a fully formed food idea in my head, or a food clue rattling around.  By now I've learned enough to know that a follow-up in the cold light of morning is usually a good idea.

In this instance, in preparation for Felix's fall break homecoming, I woke up with apple pandowdy on my mind.  Not knowing exactly what constitutes a pandowdy, I had a grand time with my cookbooks trying to figure it out.  What I learned is that pandowdy is decidedly American, dating from around 1880 and is, effectively, an apple pie made with the crust broken up half-way through the baking and then pressed into  the pie filling.  This is called "dowdying" in fact.