Dutch Baby and Cinnamon Apples

Oh Dutch baby, where have you been all my life?  Morning after morning I have slaved over the stove pouring pancake batter, carefully turning each pancake… individually.  Oh, what idiocy!  What ignorance!

Okay, idiocy is a bit harsh.  After all, I still love me some good American-style flipped pancakes!  🙂  But this was such a nice change for breakfast!

A Dutch baby, sometimes called a German pancake, is baked in the oven, and puffs up crispy all around the edge, with a light and airy texture beneath the crust.  The batter is considerably thinner and uses more eggs than the pancakes I am used to, resulting in a much less bread-y pancake.

The added bonus is that you pour the batter into a heated cast-iron skillet, and bake it all at once!  There is no waiting at the stove while the rest of the family eats (although, if I’m honest, my husband usually does the flipping).

After hearing about this breakfast from a few different people, I was intrigued and began looking at recipes.

In the end, I went with this one primarily since it had a smaller number of eggs than some I saw.  I like eggs, but didn’t really want a pancake that tasted overly “eggy”.  I also thought the lemon juice on top would be refreshing, and it was!  I added a tablespoon of sugar to the batter, since we like things a tad sweet.  It was delicious!  The only drawback after breakfast was that everybody wished we had just a little more.  🙂

My kids ate theirs with a drizzle of syrup, but I whipped up some cinnamon apples for my husband and me.

Adapted from Chef John’s recipe HERE.

Don’t be intimidated by the long list of ingredients–it comes together quickly!  🙂

Dutch Baby

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 1 TBSP sugar
• 1/2 c. flour
• 2/3 c. milk, warmed to room temperature
• 3 TBSP butter
• 1 TBSP butter, melted
• a couple splashes of lemon juice
• powdered sugar, for sprinkling

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Whisk eggs in a medium bowl.  Add in salt, vanilla, sugar, and flour, and whisk until smooth.  (The batter will look lumpy and separated and scary — keep whisking, it’ll smooth out quickly.)
3. Whisk the milk into the egg mixture slowly until fully incorporated (if the milk is hotter than room temperature, the slow addition should avoid cooking the eggs prematurely).
4. Put the 3 TBSP butter into a 10 inch cast iron skillet and place it in the oven until the butter bubbles.
5. Pour batter into the bubbling butter and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until puffed and golden.  Avoid opening the oven during this time.
6. While it’s baking, whip up some cinnamon apples!  See the recipe below.  🙂
7. When it comes out of the oven, brush it with the melted butter, then splash on a couple shakes of lemon juice and brush it around to even the flavor.
8. Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm with cinnamon apples!

Cinnamon Apples

Ingredients:

• 2 medium apples, peeled and chopped
• 2 TBSP butter
• 2 TBSP sugar
• water
• sprinkling of cinnamon

Directions:

1. Heat apples, butter, and sugar over medium in a small skillet or saucepan.
2. Cook apple mixture until soft, about 15 minutes, stirring often.  I like to cover it for a few minutes so they steam a little.  While cooking, add water (1-2 TBSP at a time) as needed to keep from burning.
3. When apples are soft, sprinkle in cinnamon to taste.
4. Serve over a delicious Dutch baby (or American-style pancakes, or French toast, or even… ice cream.)  🙂

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

~Katie