I mentioned on Friday that we’ve been stuck in a snopocolypse here in Boise (AKA longest winter break ever. ) We haven’t really left the house so we’ve been quickly going through everything in the fridge and pantry. I was actually kind of low on food right before the storm hit, but what we did have was a full crate of eggs from Costco, several gallons of milk, and a freezer full of bread. So on these cold, snowy, stuck-at-home-days, we’ve been eating LOTS of breakfast. Breakfast for breakfast, breakfast for lunch, breakfast for dinner. You get the idea. I’ve been making french toast for the armies of neighborhood boys piling up around meal time, scrambled egg sandwiches while we watch tv in our pajamas, and yes- German Pancakes. This is one of my kids most favorite “special” meals, but what they don’t know is that it’s one of Mom’s go-to crap-I-need-to-cook-something meals. Because it requires minimal pantry ingredients, literally about 3 minutes prep time and that’s IT. No pouring and flipping like crepes, pancakes, or french toast (there’s another European name, what’s with all the European breakfast names?) and no waiting for waffles to cook one by one in the waffle maker. It’s THE easiest of the breakfast foods, so it’s a regular around here. I realized that while I’ve shared a mini version of this favorite dish both here and in one of our cook books, I’ve never shared our tried and true dump-in-a-cake-pan version that we make so often. So here we go. This couldn’t be easier. First of all, you’ll toss some butter in a pan and place that pan in the oven to get hot. You want and need a hot pan for the best pancake so leave it in there until the butter melts, and it will even start to brown.
While it’s heating up, you’ll mix up eggs, milk and flour with a pinch of salt and a dash of vanilla. Then you just pour it in your hot pan. (My cute pan is from Crow Country Home, by the way. I bought it here.)
Pop that pan in the oven and in 15-20 minutes or so it will puff up into a delicious pillowy pancake. My kids love standing near the oven and watching it morph.
I actually go less by a timer and more by sight since it seems to cook a little different every time. It will start to sink down once it comes out, but no worries, that’s normal! Drizzle it with a little more melted butter,
And we like a dusting of powdered sugar.
After that, the sky is the limit when it comes to toppings. You can do good ol’ maple syrup, or fresh berries and whipped cream, or lemon juice and powdered sugar just to name a few.
We love this Kodiak Cakes Berry Syrup, and if you want a homemade version, check out our Strawberry or Blueberry Syrups, or this Buttermilk Syrup is also fantastic.
Today we had so much snow and ice that even our church, which is across the street from my house, was cancelled. So we cozied up and while my boys assembled Lego sets from Christmas, my husband and I finally watched the Gilmore Girls revival (I’ve been re-binge watching all 7 seasons and finally finished the night before!) and ate German Pancakes for dinner with canned peaches from Grandpa’s summer crop and whipped cream. Pretty perfect day if you ask me.
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