recipe no. 10: dutch baby

i have a nostalgic connection to this spongy oven pancake. when i was growing up, my parents and i would frequent the original pancake house for brunch at least once a month. my mom would take me there after the last day of the schoolyear to celebrate. i spent a lot of time eating buttery pancakes and drinking terrible coffee with people i loved most. my mom has always only ordered a dutch baby with lemon and powdered sugar, and a side of bacon real crisp. 

i never intentionally went looking for this recipe, but it found me and i've been making it for about a month now. i got a copper chef for christmas (thanks mom), which has been great because it is like a cast iron skillet in that it can go in the oven, so there are a ton of recipes that i can make now that i couldn't before - a dutch baby being one of them. this recipe is from blossom to stem, and includes cranberries, but i just omitted the cranberries and it came out great. i also omitted the chinese five spice, trading it for cinnamon, nutmeg, and a little extra vanilla extract. 

what you'll need:

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter

• 3 eggs

• 3/4 cup milk (whole recommended, i used half and half because it's what i had)

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/3 cup sugar

• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

what you'll do: 

• preheat oven to 425 degrees

• put eggs, milk, flour, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in blender

• blend for about one minute to get it frothy and airy

• put the butter in your skillet and melt it on medium on the stove

• once the butter is melted and has coated the skillet, pour the batter into the pan

• bake until puffy and golden, about 20 minutes

• keep an eye out for super brown edges - you don't want to burn the bottom. i check it at about 18 minutes and that seems to work for me.