This morning I was up before everyone else and decided to make a family breakfast. Since I hadn’t planned ahead for this, I didn’t want to make anything that took too long. I also wanted to use some of the blueberries that we had on hand. At first I considered blueberry pancakes, but then my mind went to the German Apple Pancake recipe that I sometimes make from my Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook. I wondered if I could make it with blueberries?
In the Apple version, you saute some apples in butter, brown sugar and cinnamon in an oven-safe skillet, then pour the batter over top and cook it in the oven. You end up with a slightly custard-like, but firm pancake that you then invert onto a plate and dust with icing sugar. I knew that I didn’t need to cook the blueberries in advance of the pancake, so I could cut out a step of the recipe … bonus! However I was worried that if I put the blueberries on the bottom, they would either burn or become a messy syrup. I decided to toss the blueberries in the brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle them over the batter in the pan. Since blueberries are sweeter than apples, I reduced the sugar from 1/4 cup to 2 tbsp.
I knew that I still needed some butter at the bottom of the pan to stop the batter from sticking to the pan, so I melted it in the pan in the oven before adding the batter. There was quite a bit of butter at the bottom of the pan when it was melted, so I decided to take out 1 tbsp and toss it with the blueberries (brown sugar and butter are such a great combination!).
After 20 minutes in the oven, it came out exactly as I wanted! The pancake deflates a bit after it comes out of the oven, leaving a raised edge, so I decided to put fresh blueberries on top. I then sifted some icing sugar over top and grated some lemon zest to add freshness. This pancake made a delicious and impressive breakfast dish, and took 5 minutes of hands-on work!
The recipe called for half-and-half, but I didn’t have any so I used whole milk. I didn’t find it was lacking anything 🙂 I looked this up to see if other people had done a dish like this, and it’s apparently called a Dutch Baby.
Blueberry Dutch Baby
This impressive breakfast dish is a celebration of blueberries and takes only 5 minutes of work! A 10-inch oven-proof skillet is needed for this recipe.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Adjust rack to upper-middle position and preheat oven to 425 F/218 C.
- Whisk together flour, granulated sugar, salt, eggs, milk and vanilla in a medium bowl until no lumps remain, about 30 seconds.
- In a separate bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups blueberries, brown sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice.
- Place butter in a 10-inch oven-proof skillet and heat in the oven until butter is melted and begins to brown a bit, about 2 minutes.
- Remove skillet from oven and take 1 tbs butter from pan and stir it into the blueberry mixture. Swirl the rest of the butter to coat the bottom of the pan.
- Pour batter into the pan then sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over top.
- Bake for 20 minutes, until the pancake edges are brown and the pancake is puffy.
- Carefully remove the skillet from the oven. Using a heat-proof spatula, lift the cake from the skillet onto a serving plate.
- Top with remaining blueberries, then sift icing sugar and grate lemon zest over top. Serve immediately.
Adjust rack to upper-middle position and preheat oven to 425 F/218 C
Whisk together flour, granulated sugar, salt, eggs, milk and vanilla in a medium bowl until no lumps remain, about 30 seconds.
In a separate bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups blueberries, brown sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice.
Place butter in a 10-inch oven-proof skillet and heat in the oven until butter is melted and begins to brown a bit, about 2 minutes.
Remove skillet from oven and take 1 tbs butter from pan and stir it into the blueberry mixture. Swirl the rest of the butter to coat the bottom of the pan.
Pour batter into the pan then sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over top.
Bake for 20 minutes, until the pancake edges are brown and the pancake is puffy.
Top with remaining blueberries, then sift icing sugar and grate lemon zest over top. Serve immediately.
It looks so good! Would an all purpose gluten free flour work with this?
I don’t have much experience with Gluten Free flour, but I think it would be ok.
Yum. It reminds me of a dutch pancake (pannenkoek). I was obsessed with those for a while after coming back from Holland.
Yes. I think it’s the same thing. They can be called Dutch Babies.
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