This recipe yields a buttery, eggy baked pancake that tastes much like a bread pudding but with a silky custard like texture. The best part is that this dish is about as easy as it gets. Just whirr up a few simple ingredients in your blender, pour it into a pan, and into the oven it goes to puff up.

General Notes: 

As far as I can tell, a dutch baby pancake is traditionally served with a dusting of powdered sugar and a squeeze of lemon. While i’m sure this is a perfectly good presentation for some, i’m not a huge fan of dusted powdered sugar. Therefore I tend to favor a hand full of fresh berries, maple syrup, or fruit syrup. On this particular day I had a hankering for some blackberry syrup. The thing I love about topping my dutch baby pancakes with syrup is that it tends to absorb the syrup like any other pancake, but since the texture is already a bit denser and more akin to a baked custard or bread pudding, it doesn’t lead to a soggy pancake.

Notes on ingredients: 

My recipe calls for either salted or unsalted, depending on preference. I have a salt tooth and enjoy balancing the sweetness of whatever topping I choose with the touch of slightly savory crust that salted butter produces on the bottom of the pancake. So use your digression, and please don’t come at me until you’ve tried it both ways.

This particular recipe also calls for vanilla extract, but almond extract also makes a fine addition to this dish. If you use almond extract, just cut it back to 1/8th tsp.

Notes on method: 

If you don’t have a blender, a food processor or stick blender will work in a pinch. Just make sure to add about 30 seconds or so to the blending time. You could even use a hand held whisk if you’re really in a pinch, but you had better have strong arms because you’ll need to whisk it really well for several minutes. You don’t want any distinguishable bits of egg white running through the batter.

As for baking the dutch baby, a cast iron skillet with produce the best results, but any oven safe skillet should work just fine. A pie plate or casserole dish will also work, but the results will vary slightly.

Yield: 2-4 servings, depending on how hungry you are
Prep time: 5 mins
Total time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp butter (salted or unsalted depending on your preference)
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cups milk (preferably whole, but i’ve used variations including almond milk with decent results)
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Heat oven to 425F. Place the butter in a 9″ non stick skillet and put the skillet in the oven as it preheats. Place all of the ingredients in a blender and blend on the highest setting for about 1 minute. Remove the skillet from the oven and carefully swirl the butter around to coat about half way up the sides of the pan. Quickly pour the batter into the hot pan and place it back in the oven. Bake for 20 min until golden and puffy. Remove from the oven and cut the pancake into quarters. Serve immediately.