Dutch Baby Pancakes

I made this for breakfast this morning and you should too.  My whole family practically applauded when I took this out of the oven and it was demolished within a couple of minutes.  Even my husband who is generally not a fan of sweet things was impressed. Not only was it delicious, it was stupidly easy to make.  Whip up the batter in a couple of minutes, throw it in the oven, and 20 minutes later, you are eating heaven.

At the breakfast table, we pondered the name of this dish. After a quick google search,  what it comes down to is that it has more or less nothing to do with the Dutch or babies.  It seems to have been dubbed this name by an American restaurant and the name stuck. However, it is really just a big popover, which is in turn a slightly sweetened Yorkshire pudding.

I was inspired to make this today because suddenly I kept seeing recipes for it everywhere.  Smitten Kitchen did this version in chocolate.  The Guardian had this lemony version.  My recipe is loosely based on this version.  The differences are mainly in the amount of eggs and the flavorings.  I went for a 3 egg version.  Lots of recipes have you rest the batter, but that requires more planning than I can manage and with no evidence at all, I doubt that it makes any significant difference.  Having said that, if you are the organized sort, it seems obvious that you could whip up the batter the night before, which means that in the morning you could just heat the oven and dump the batter in.  It won't save you much time since you still have to heat up the oven, but it does mean that if your brain is not yet functioning without your cup of coffee, you won't mess up with the measurements.

Eat this with whatever pancake accompaniments you might like.  I personally prefer powdered sugar and lemon.  Any kind of berries thrown on top would be delicious.  Jam and/or maple syrup are also obvious candidates.

Recipe feeds 2 to 4 persons.

Batter:
3 large eggs
2/3 cup milk
2/3 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla

For the pan:
50 grams (1/4 cup) butter

Pre-heat your oven to 210C or 450F.  Put a medium cast iron pan or oven proof dish in the middle of the oven while it preheats.  In a large bowl, whisk up all the batter ingredients, until smooth.  It can have a few small lumps of flour.

When the oven is heated, open the oven door and plop the butter in the hot pan.  Close the door and let the butter melt.  When it is melted, open the door and pull out the rack so that you have better access to the pan and swish around the butter so that it covers the bottom and sides of the pan.  Pour the batter in the pan.  Push the rack back in and close the oven door.  Bake the pancake for 18 to 25 minutes until the sides have risen high, the middle is puffy, and the whole thing is golden brown and your mouth is watering.

Right before it is ready, gather your eaters around the table.  Whisk the hot pan from the oven onto a trivet on the table.  Let everyone ooh and aah.  Take a bow.  Civilized people might cut it into pieces but my family just tore off pieces with their hands.  Sprinkle with lemon and powdered sugar or your preferred topping and devour.