Pancakes are a breakfast treat on a weekend morning, but they admittedly require your full attention from beginning to end, or you’ll have a burnt mess in your skillet. If you want to try a less hands-on approach, I would suggest a Dutch Baby, also known as a German pancake. The prep work to make the batter is much like that of traditional pancakes, but then you simply slide your skillet into the oven and let the Dutch Baby bake for 10-14 minutes. Slice it into wedges and you have breakfast — or even breakfast for dinner!
In the newly revised and updated The Apple Lover’s Cookbook: The Classic Guide to Cooking and Eating Apples, Amy Traverso features apples in her Dutch Baby recipe. As Traverso explains, the Dutch Baby is egg-leavened and a sweeter version of Yorkshire pudding, similar to a popover.
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 large firm-sweet apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/8-inch rings (Note: I simplified this by not peeling the apples and just sliced them. They still softened as they cooked in the melted butter.)
- 5 large eggs
- 1 cup whole or 2 percent milk (I had 1 percent on hand and used that instead.)
- Confectioners’ sugar for sprinkling
- Lemon wedges (I skipped the lemon.)
Directions:
- Sift the flour into a medium bowl, then stir in the sugar, cinnamon, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk for about 1 minute; the mixture should be frothy and drizzle from the whisk in a thin stream. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and set a rack in the middle position. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Lay the apple slices in the butter and cook, without stirring, for 2 minutes. Gently flip the slices and cook until tender, about 2 more minutes.
- Working quickly, add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and whisk just to combine. Pour the batter into the hot skillet with the apples, then transfer the skillet to the oven. Bake until the pancake is puffed and golden, 10 to 14 minutes. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar and serve immediately from the skillet, with lemon wedges to squirt over the top.
The Apple Lover’s Cookbook features both savory and sweet recipes, including Sweet Potato, Apple and Ginger Soup; Squash and Apple Gratin; Pork and Apple Pie with Cheddar-Sage Crust; and Apple-Pear Cobbler with Lemon-Cornmeal Biscuits. It’s available for request here: https://librarycatalog.einetwork.net/Record/.b39209933.
