What makes this Tuesday better than any other Tuesday of the year? Pancakes! But these aren’t just any ol’ pancakes…nope. These are Dutch baby pancakes. Once you make these you’re going to wonder why you’ve never made them before.
Sweeter than your typical pancake and more like a popover, this recipe requires a light batter that gets poured into a hot skillet and put into the oven. The batter rises while baking and then deflates in the centre when you pull it out of the oven. It’s pretty spectacular and I’ve basically fallen in love with them. It also helps that they are delicious.
If you’re like me and always wonder where food originates from then you’re probably asking yourself “what do Dutch babies have to do with this flapjack”? Apparently nothing. Turns out the word Dutch in this instance refers back to the Pennsylvania Dutch, a group of German-American immigrants. The German word “Deutsche” got skewed and became “Dutch”. It gained popularity after it was featured in a magazine.
This is also a great way to use your cast iron pan. Mine is about 20 years old and it’s pretty much the only pan we use in our home. It cooks like a dream. I have two other aluminum pans, but it’s the ol’ cast iron that I reach for every single time. To be honest, I’m not even really sure where those other two pans came from.
If you don’t own a cast iron pan then just make sure to use an oven proof one.
This is a really easy recipe for Dutch Baby Pancakes and looks spectacular when you pull it out of the oven all puffed up. I recommend taking it straight from the oven onto the table. Dust a little icing sugar over top and serve with a few wedges of lemon to squeeze over top.
Dutch Baby Pancakes
- 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup of all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup of milk
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Pinch of salt
- Icing sugar for dusting
- 1 lemon, cut into 4 wedges
Heat oven to 425F. Place a medium sized cast iron skillet into the oven and allow it to heat up.
While the skillet is heating up, place the flour, sugar, eggs, milk, vanilla, salt into a blender. Blend until the ingredients have incorporated and the batter is a bit foamy.
Add the butter. When the butter has melted, pull the skillet out of the oven, pour in the batter and place back in the oven. You want to ensure the pan is hot before pouring in the batter.
Bake for about 20 – 25 minutes until the edges brown and the pancake has puffed up.
Remove from the oven and sift the icing sugar over top the warm pancake. Traditionally, these are served with a few lemon wedges on the side. Squeeze lemon juice over top of the pancake.
