Sunday Breakfast: German Pancakes with Apples

Yum.....I love German Pancakes.. (AKA Dutch Baby Pancakes)....almost as much as I love Finnish Pancakes and Pannekoek.....They all run a tied race for me really. One of the things I love about German Pancakes is how easy they are to prepare for company, since you can make one big huge one to share. The German pancake is very much like a popover or Yorkshire pudding. So if you like the texture of Yorkshire pudding, you'll probably be interested in this too. You first preheat your oven to 425F with your baking pan with some butter in it to preheat and brown the butter. (Just like you would preheat the drippings or fat for making Yorkshire Pudding) While that is preheating you make the batter. Just a warning....these pancakes will not be fluffy in texture like traditional american pancakes at all!......They will be quite heavy, much like Yorkshire Pudding.


German Pancakes
6 eggs
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cup milk
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 425 F. Melt 2 tbsp butter in a pan in oven until brown and foamy. Careful not to burn. While pan is heating, mix above ingredients together in blender briefly. Once pan is ready, pour batter on top of the melted butter and return pan to oven. Bake for 20 minutes. Will be brown and crusty and puffy. Serve with lemon juice and icing sugar.

You may vary the recipe to serve as many people as needed in the amount of 1 egg per person, 1/4 cup flour per person and 1/4 cup milk per person. When cooking a batch of 2-3 eggs use small 6" pan and bake for 11 minutes. When cooking a batch of 5-6 eggs use a 9x 13" pan and cook for 20 minutes.

If you would like to include apples to the recipe, saute peeled and sliced apples in butter till softened and golden and add to the pan before adding batter. I myself like them with fried bacon, apples and onion added prior to the batter. If you are going to add bacon to the pancake, as with the apples, you must precook it and add it to the pan before the batter just like the one in the picture above. You can use the bacon grease instead of the butter to preheat in the pan if you'd like. You can cook the whole recipe in an oven proof cast iron pan if you have one appropriately sized, and glass bake ware including pie plates work well too.

Well, that was Sunday breakfast..... and for the rest of the day....some sewing. Or trying to sew a Turtwig costume for my son for Hallowe'en......Wish me luck!

Star Felt Ornament

Another felt ornament swap is in the mail. This one for a star shaped ornament is now on it's way to it's new home in the US. I wanted a rounded tip star shape and found a pattern for one here at Allsorts. I copied the image into Corel Draw and sized the image to the dimensions I was interested in. The dark blue felt is wool Melton cloth while the accents are acrylic because that's all I had on hand. Accent shapes are stitched on with a blanket stitch in 3 strands of embroidery floss. I thought the little bird was cute, but it also could be embellished with embroidery flowers, or needle felted like the red heart shaped ornament of last months swap.

Pumpkin Cookies for Autumn

I really do love the fall. It's very filled with colours I like and it really makes me feel like cooking comfort foods. Chicken Pot Pie, Hearty Stew, Hot Soup are all good autumn meal choices. It's also such a nice time to sit around with friends and enjoy a cup of your favourite hot chocolate, latte or tea in comfortable surroundings. A nice little something to have with your soul warming beverage is a nice addition too. I like to make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies for just this time of year. I was introduced to these cookies by a friend Alison a few years ago, and I have always thought that they are perfectly suited for fall weather.....probably because of the pumpkin. I make them almost without fail every fall now, once the leaves colour and begin to fall. They are surprisingly good cookies, and are the best straight out of the oven when their outsides have a light crust from their time in the oven. Once they have been stored in a tin or jar for any length of time they do lose their crisp exterior, but are still a very delicious cookie. They have a subtle flavour of pumpkin pie with the addition of chocolate, and are equally popular with children and adults. Without any more babble, here is the recipe should you wish to make some.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

2 cups white sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 (15oz) can pumpkin puree

4 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 pinch of nutmeg

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F. Cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time. Stir in vanilla, pumpkin and blend well. Add remaining ingredients except for flour and chocolate chips and stir well. Fold in flour and then chocolate chips. Drop by spoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake 12 -15 minutes in preheated oven until the edges of the cookies begin to brown. Allow to cool on sheets for a few minutes before moving to cooling racks to completely cool.