This Strawberry Dutch Baby Is the Best. The End.
Butter-roasted strawberries and sugar rubbed with lemon sweeten a classic puffed-up Dutch baby.
Serves4 to 6
Prep15 minutes to 20 minutes
Cook20 minutes
This recipe is part of Kitchn 100 — the hundred recipes you need right now. Check out all of the amazing dishes, from Kitchn and beyond, here.
Ever since I got the hang of the magic trick known as the Dutch baby, I’ve had it on repeat. There’s nothing quite like pouring pancake batter into a sizzling skillet and watching it balloon in the oven into an airy, crispy cloud for your plate. There’s just one thing this covetable breakfast usually lacks: fruit! Simply slapping a few raw berries on top of a Dutch baby and calling it strawberry? Uh-uh. To me, your average hollow Dutch baby is just begging for a little more, a filling to turn it from plain to perfect. This ultimate strawberry Dutch baby fixes that oversight with a bubbling, buttery layer of strawberries in molten lemon sugar.
I actually learned about Dutch babies (and their close cousins the flognarde and clafoutis) sort of backwards, through this epic recipe for Apple Pancake. It’s a magnificent beast of a breakfast: caramelized apples in cinnamon sugar, bubbly and hot, with a glorious puff of custard and crust soaring above. So from day one, my experience of the oven pancake was filled with fruit.
I thought: why not do this with other fruit, not just apples? So, strawberries. Butter. Lemon Sugar. Yes. Oh yes. And yes, I realize that this is generally what is called a clafoutis (pancake batter over fruit). But this particular recipe borrows a little more from a classic Dutch baby with a hotter oven, more butter, and the most enormous soaring puff to the batter (clafoutis doesn’t usually start with so much butter, or achieve such heights).
The end result of this recipe (on the off chance I haven’t sold you yet) is that this is a magic trick that doubles down, pays off hard. You start with a shimmering layer of butter in a screaming hot skillet; add sugar with lemon zest rubbed in, then a layer of strawberries. Let those roast for a few minutes while making a simple batter. Then pour in, bake, and watch that airy, craggy cloud erupt out of the pan. It will fall after coming out, with crisp and caramelized sugar edges, and a bubbling, saucy layer below of strawberries meeting custard in the middle.
If you’re already sold on the Dutch baby, level up. You know you want it.
Strawberry Dutch Baby
Butter-roasted strawberries and sugar rubbed with lemon sweeten a classic puffed-up Dutch baby.
Prep time 15 minutes to 20 minutes
Cook time 20 minutes
Serves 4 to 6
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
For the strawberry filling:
- 1/3 cup
granulated sugar
- 1
medium lemon
- 1 pound
strawberries
- 5 tablespoons
unsalted butter
For the Dutch baby batter:
- 3/4 cup
all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon
granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon
kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon
ground cardamom (optional)
- 5
large eggs
- 1 cup
whole milk
- 1 teaspoon
vanilla extract
Powdered sugar and whipped cream, for serving (optional)
Instructions
Place a 10-inch cast iron skillet on the middle rack in the oven. Heat the oven to 425°F.
Make the strawberry filling: Place 1/3 cup granulated sugar in a medium bowl. Finely grate the zest of 1 medium lemon onto the sugar. Rub the zest into the sugar with your fingertips until fully combined and gritty. Hull and cut 1 pound strawberries in half, then place in a large bowl. Squeeze the juice of the zested lemon onto the strawberries and toss to combine.
Cut 5 tablespoons unsalted butter into 5 pieces. Place the butter in the hot skillet, return to the oven, and bake until the butter is mostly melted but not browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Add most of the lemon sugar and stir to combine. Arrange the strawberries evenly on top and sprinkle with the remaining lemon sugar. (Reserve both bowls.) Roast for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, make the Dutch baby batter.
Make the batter: Wipe out the lemon sugar bowl. Place 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, and 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom in the bowl and whisk to combine.
Wipe out the strawberry bowl. Add 5 large eggs to the bowl and whisk until frothy. Add 1 cup whole milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and whisk to combine. While whisking constantly, slowly add the flour mixture and whisk until smooth. Whisk vigorously for 30 seconds more. (Alternatively, just whiz everything together in a blender until smooth.)
By this point the strawberries should be bubbling and smell roasted and sweet. Pour the batter over the strawberries. Reduce the oven temperature to 400°F. Bake until puffed and golden-brown, about 20 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes. Serve dusted with powdered sugar and topped with whipped cream if desired.