I have a confession to make. Are you ready? Here it is: I have raised food snobs. That's right. I didn't really mean to, but there you have it. They were raised on foods made from scratch with real ingredients and now they think they just have to have it that way. For the most part, they vastly prefer home-cooked food over packaged food (Candy is a big exception to this -- one of my kids would eat candy for every meal if I let him...). They pretty much turn their noses up at most cold cereals. So that means I need to cook breakfasts for them every day. I don't really mind, though, because I know they are getting wholesome nourishing food. And the proof of the pudding is in the eating. It has been years since I had to take a sick child to the doctor.
The down side to cooking breakfast everyday is that I am sorta busy. (Like screaming-banshie-busy...) And who is coherent enough to cook an elaborate meal early in the morning? So I need super-fast, super-easy recipes. Dutch Baby is one of those recipes. It takes only about 5 minutes to throw together and cooks in 25 minutes (while I'm getting myself the rest of the way awake.) The kids really like it, and that makes my day start off well. So here it is, if you want to try it:
Here it is when it first goes in the oven, before it puffs up.
Dutch Apple (or Pear) Baby
Preheat oven to 400 F.
4 eggs
2 cups flour (I use 1 cup unbleached white flour and 1 cup freshly ground whole wheat or spelt. If you use all white, the dutch baby will puff up beautifully. If you use all whole grain, it will barely puff at all, but the taste is wonderful. I compromise here. By using 1 cup of each, I get good flavor and nutrition and still get some of that lightness and puffiness.)
2 cups milk (I use cow's milk since this is for the kids. I've never tried it will other milks. Hmmm, I'll bet almond milk would be awesome....)
1 sliced apple or pear
Cinnamon (to sprinkle on top)
2 Tbsp Butter (I only use the real thing. The flavor is amazing, and it is naturally occurring. I don't need a factory to manufacture it.)
Maple Syrup (to drizzle on the finished product. Again, I only use the real thing.)
1. Heat a cast iron skillet (if you have one, or another oven safe pan if you don't).
2. Melt the butter in the pan.
3. Put the first 3 ingredients in a large bowl and whip it together with a stick blender. (You could also do this in the mixer, blender or food processor.) This only takes a couple minutes.
4. Pour the batter into the hot pan.
5. Arrange the fruit on top and sprinkle with cinnamon.
6. Bake for 25 minutes or until puffy and golden.
Drizzle with Maple Syrup and serve immediately. Enjoy being the hero of the morning!
