Remember Big Pancake? Many of you swooned over our recipe for Big Pancake (Dutch baby). Now, if you cross one of those with a tarte Tatin, you get another splendid dish: apple pancake. This recipe comes from my friend Jennie, whose Swedish-American family speaks of this longstanding breakfast tradition in hushed and respectful tones. It is the apple pancake.
Recipe: Weekend Apple Pancake
This is a deep dish treat, softer and more dense than a plain Dutch baby, stuffed with buttered apples and layers of custard over caramelized cinnamon sugar. Warm and tender on a snappy fall morning in apple season, this is my very favorite weekend breakfast.
This recipe, along with most others involving baked apples, does best with a tart, crisp variety. If you use softer or sweeter apples, toss the slices with some lemon juice before putting them in the pan to bring up the acidity and balance out the sweetness.
Weekend Apple Pancake
serves 3-4
2 large or 3 medium apples, preferably Granny Smith
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon, fresh ground if possible
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
5 eggs
1 cup milk
3/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Heat the oven to 400°F. Peel and slice the apples; you should have about 3 cups. Mix the fresh cinnamon, ginger and sugar in a small bowl and set aside.
In the oven, or over a burner, melt the butter in an 8x8" pan or a deep cast iron skillet, tilting to coat the bottom and sides with melted butter. Add the brown sugar to the butter in the bottom of pan. Spread the apples on top of the sugar and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture over the apples. Put the pan back in the oven to start the apples cooking.
Beat the eggs until foamy with a whisk or eggbeater. Fold in the flour, salt, and sugar gradually while mixing. Add milk and vanilla and beat just until smooth. Let rest for a couple minutes.
Take the pan out of the oven and pour the batter over the apples. Sprinkle more cinnamon or cinnamon sugar on top if desired. Bake for about 20 more minutes or until center is set and sides are lightly browned. If the top browns before the center sets, tent with foil for the duration of the baking. The pancake will puff up dramatically but fall after you take it out of the oven.
Serve with powdered sugar or more cinnamon sugar.
Related: Recipe: Big Pancake
Comments (17)
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Swoon is right!! Can I just say how much I love the Big Pancake? It became our Sunday morning routine right after we tried it the first time.
I can't wait to try this recipe, though.
i've been eating dutch baby since i was...well, a baby. i've made it with cheese, with applesauce & various sliced/diced/shredded fruits but always thrown on top or heated separately and rolled within. but actually cooked within! aha! of course. makes total sense. i think i might have to have this for dinner. with a little cheddar cheese so i don't feel like a total degenerate. genius faith.
When I was growing up in LA my family went to breakfast regularly at Dinah's, where both the Dutch Baby and the Apple Pancake have been on the menu for at least 30 years. Since leaving LA, I have often lamented the weekends bereft of Apple Pancake, but despite cooking all the time, never even thought of trying to recreate the sacred object at home. This post has made me so happy! I can't wait to try it!
Great! If you make it, let us know how it turns out...
holy crap, this looks amazing. this is definitely going on my to make list. reason 87680987 why breakfast is my favorite meal of the day.
Aloha Ya'll,
Never had a dutch baby, it sounds great. But I have made poffertjes, sometimes referred to as "baby dutch pancakes"
http://www-us.flickr.com/photos/fotosesther/119868713/
I have the cast iron and teflon pans to make these. Looking forward to the apple pancake :-)
Cooking Cajun
Where are they custard layers in this recipe??
Hey Faith-
My honey and I made this on Sunday, and it was absolutely great. Not quite the same animal as the Dinah's version, but that wasn't at all disappointing because it was so delicious. We modified it a little by putting half of the cinnamon-sugar mixture on top to form a crust.
Over the last few days I have been heating the remaining pieces in the oven at 400 degrees for (another) 20 minutes, which makes the custard a little more solid, but I found I even preferred that. I just finished the last piece today for lunch. Yum! We will definitely do this again!
Thanks oodles!
Kit, the batter creates a custardy center between the apples. The whole pancake is more of a custard than a conventional griddle pancake. But it could set into a more firm filling, depending on oven time.
beebe - that's great! I have driven by Dinah's - next time I'm in LA I'm totally going to visit.
i just made this on saturday for my roommate's birthday breakfast. absolutely delish! thanks.
Fantastic! Made it this morning, and it was incredible!
Thank you!
Just wanted to chime in that I made this on Sunday, but instead of apples I used pears. Deeee-Licious! An instant classic in our house!
made it this morning and used fuji rather than granny smith. came out superb. thanks for this one....
view matthew w's profile
Just recently found this recipe. It's the ultimate Dutch Baby. I used Granny Smith apples I needed to use up. Baked in a Lodge cast iron skillet and it turned out perfectly - a bit hit for a Sunday breakfast.
view judy0044's profile
I have been making a version of this recipe ever since I was about 12 -- the recipe I use is out of the book Vegetarian Epicure, and it is called a "German Apple Pancake". Cook's Illustrated had a great version of the recipe in their Christmas 2006 issue.
view mschatelaine's profile
According to family lore, my mom & dad used to go on dates to the Original Pancake House in Chicago and split an apple Dutch Baby. They liked it so much that Mom started working on her own version. It's become one of our family's classic weekend breakfast (or dinner) dishes, and is frequently served when guests come to visit. We normally serve this with a side of pretel (a goetta-like sausage patty that we've only been able to find in Northwest Ohio), and some of us like to top both the pancake and the pretel with maple syrup...
-- Jennie
view jenbut's profile
Guess I need to jump in here to defend myself. It is true our first German Apple Pancake was devoured circa 1975 at Chicago's Original Pancake House near the Lincoln Park Zoo. Yes, we did split the pancake because of it's large serving size (fills a dinner plate) and the small size of our student funds. Original Pancake House has franchises all over the country. www.originalpancakehouse.com . My variation came about when a Chicago friend mailed me one of those cooking columns that attempts to copy some restaurant fare. It has been tweaked over the years to accomodate crowd size. I have found pans with higher sides are best. And have experimented with oven temperature to prevent the corners from growing too fast and getting too brown. Have even used Egg-beaters which seems to make the custard portion more airy and less dense. I grew up eating the thin Swedish Pancakes. A variation of that is called FlaskPankaka and is made in the oven like the Dutch Baby. As to the Prettles - they are another German fare found only in NW Ohio. You can buy frozen Prettles at Brookview Farm Meats (419) 445-6366. I find the seasoning to Prettles more pleasing than Goetta. I think the are very similar and just come from different areas of Germany.
view AButler's profile