Friday, November 18, 2011

Big Apple Pancake

The other day, right after receiving a few more apples from my CSA, I saw a gorgeous apple pancake at Stacey Snacks. I used to make big pancakes like that somewhat frequently in the fall and winter, but it had been ages since I last made one. I checked my Word file of saved, keeper recipes, and there it was. Apparently, I added it to the file before I started noting where recipes originated. I now have no idea where I first found my version of the big apple pancake, but it was a little different than the version Stacey showed. I geeked out about finding the source and set about searching online to try and solve the mystery. There are Dutch babies and other big pancakes with and without apples. There are baked pancakes made in skillets and some in baking dishes. But, none of the recipes I found were the same as the one in my file. The closest version I found is David Eyre’s pancake in The Essential New York Times Cookbook. The ingredient quantities are similar, and that recipe and the one I saved are the only two I’ve seen that suggest serving them with lemon. So, I failed at finding the source of my recipe, but at least I got reacquainted with a great breakfast or brunch dish. Whichever recipe you prefer, you should try one of these pancakes. They’re easy to make, full of apples, and they puff up amazingly in the oven.

To make the pancake, you start by sauteing sliced apples in butter in an oven-proof skillet. When the apples are tender, add some brown sugar and stir to combine. Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, salt, milk, nutmeg, and flour. The batter is poured over the apples, the skillet is transferred to a hot oven, and it bakes for 10 minutes. At that point, you drop some cubes of butter on top of the pancake and sprinkle it with a mix of brown sugar and cinnamon. Then, it bakes for another 10 minutes and puffs gloriously. To serve, shake confectioner’s sugar on top, or squeeze some lemon over it if you’d like.

The look and the flavor of this pancake so completely outweigh the effort to make it, I could easily make one every weekend while apples are in season. And, I don’t see why apples need to have a lock on this concept. Next summer, I’ll be making these with peaches instead.

My Mystery Big Apple Pancake
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
2 large apples, cored and sliced in ¼-inch thick pieces
4 tablespoons brown sugar, divided
3 eggs
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
pinch salt
½ cup milk
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
½ cup flour
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
lemon wedge or confectioners’ sugar for serving

- preheat oven to 425 degrees F
- in a large, oven proof skillet, melt two tablespoons butter over medium heat; add apple slices and cook, stirring until tender, about 10 minutes; add two tablespoons of the brown sugar and stir to combine
- in a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, salt, milk, nutmeg, and flour; pour this batter over the apples in the skillet; transfer to oven and bake until puffy, about 10 minutes
- in a small bowl, mix cinnamon and remaining two tablespoons brown sugar; cut remain tablespoon of butter into pieces; when pancake puffs, remove from oven, dot with butter, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, and return to oven to bake until browned, about 10 minutes more
- as the pancake comes out of the oven, squeeze lemon over the top or shake confectioners’ sugar over pancake




28 comments:

  1. Oh gosh, my mouth is watering, that is simply delicious! My sweet tooth is aching LOL
    *kisses* HH

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  2. Exquisite! That is a marvelous fall treat.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  3. I've made this before and it's amazing. Love the summery idea of peaches!

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  4. This is my new go to weekend breakfast.
    I love it! Yours looks beautiful, of course.

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  5. Gorgeous, Lisa. Thanks for posting the recipe.

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  6. Beautiful! And I can't wait to see the peach version. I've never made a skillet pancake but it looks right up my alley. I would never have thought to sprinkle the pancake with lemon. I'm intrigued!

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  7. ciao lisa splendida ricetta ti seguiro spero verrai a trovarmi

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  8. I'm always enamoured of a great bit Dutch Baby pancake. I think it's that awesome caramelization it gets from being in that big heavy pan.

    Gorgeous.

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  9. Loved the title of your recipe - I've got a bunch that deserve a similar tagging... :-)

    I have the NYT book at home and I'm almost sure it's one of the recipes I bookmarked to make sometime - I will compare with your version when I'm back in OK

    perfect brunch dish....

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  10. These apples cooked and encased in batter look so good impossible to resist! Love apples raw cooked, in any shape or form. Great post!

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  11. Every time something like a Dutch baby appears on someone's blog, there is a strong desire to eat one! And of course, we're talking about pancakes. :) They always look like a great brunch dish. There may be a holiday brunch on our agenda for Dec. This could be the year to try it!

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  12. This apple pancake sounds amazing, jr would love it for sure!

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  13. I just love apple pancakes. What a great recipe.

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  14. This sounds like a pancake for the season.. warm base with crunchy sweet bite from the apple.

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  15. I love apples all year round...and in every way imaginable! An excuse to eat them in a big pancake for breakfast sounds ideal to me!

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  16. Wow! Now THAT's what I call a pancake! I've never tried making one of these before but that's about to change. It's been a running complaint of mine that cooking up one flapjack at a time is such a pain - this pretty much solves the problem. Thank you for sharing! 8-D

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  17. big pancakes are fun and clearly put those stupid little silver dollar pancakes to shame. the apples are a terrific component--great post!

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  18. My mom started making this apple pancake AFTER I went to college! I need to make up for all those years I didn't get to have this beauty for my Sunday breakfast! Thanks for the inspiration...yours looks DELISH!

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  19. I would like a BIG fork to eat that BIG pancake. LOL Man, I could seriously devour all of it, myself. ;)

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  20. No matter how you slice it, I can't think of a more scrumptious and delightful breakfast dish. Great for brunch too!!! I call this a Dutch Baby but that's probably because I just luv the term!

    Thanks for sharing, Lisa...

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  21. Yum, what a festive breaky. Makes me want to go and buy the Christmas tree!

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  22. Thank you for this Lisa. I wanted to make something special for my guys this weekend and this is totally going to be it. They are pancake lovers of the highest order and will go crazy over this pancake. Happy Thanksgiving!

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  23. What a fantastic way to start your day! Love this one.

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  24. Could I have some of your mystery pancake? On that note; I'm struggling to find a way to keep all the recipes in any sort of logical way. Especially when it comes to magazine recipes. How do you do it now? In word? Just curious and hoping for a good tip..:)

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  25. Simone: I have a crazy three-part system. I have files where I stores pages cut from magazines of recipes I haven't tried yet. I organize those by drinks, appetizers, salads, soups, sides, mains, breakfast, desserts. I also store links to recipes I want to try on Evernote. Then, when I've tried recipes and like them (and/or made a little change or two), I type them into a Word file, and that's my permanent file.

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  26. Lol... ok that sounds more or less like my system.. :) Except I actually have found a program of sort on my mac to store the recipes I've done.. There are just so many and was hoping you had the golden tip on how to handle them!
    It is actually a good idea to make a file based on type of recipe as currently I have everything on one big pile.. Which doesn't work as you can probably guess..

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