John & Abigail Adams' Recipes

ABIGAIL ADAMS' APPLE PAN DOWDY

1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup shortening

Blend until mealy. Sprinkle a little ice water over dough, enough to hold together. Roll out to 1/4" thickness, brush with 1/4 cup melted butter. Cut pastry in half. Place halves on top of each other. Roll and cut again. Repeat until you have 16 separate pieces piled up. Then chill for 1 hour. Roll pastry again and cut in half. Line bottom of baking dish. Save other half for top.

Filling Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
10 large apples
1/2 cup molasses
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 cup water

Peel and slice the apples. Mix with sugar and spices and put in pastry lined dish. Combine molasses with butter and water. Pour over apples. Cover with top crust and seal. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Then reduce heat to 325 degrees.

"Dowdy" the dish by cutting the crust into apples with sharp knife. Bake one hour. Serve hot with ice cream or whipped cream.

ABIGAIL ADAMS' HOT CRAB SALAD

(This is extremely simple and although the price of crabmeat makes it an extravagance today, this recipe makes a worthy expenditure.)

2 T. butter
2 T. flour
1 cup milk
1/2 lb. lump crabmeat, picked over
1/4 cup diced pimentos, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup toasted, sliced almonds

Make a cream sauce with butter, flour and milk. Remove from heat and add crab, pimentos and almonds. Serve in pre-baked pastry shells or cream puff shells.

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