Nobody puts Dutch Baby in a corner...
Let history remember that THIS IS MY THIRD TIME trying to write this post. Why??! Because Squarespace didn’t think that auto-save was a critical feature. HOW IS THIS NOT THE THIRD FEATURE YOU MAKE?! Were I the God of Squarespace, on my first day, I would create the ability to make a page, on the second, the ability to a delete a page, and on the third, the ability to not accidentally delete that page.
Instead, I have Ctrl-Z’d like a mo-fo, but my content just isn’t coming back.
A bit about my Squarespace journey. Like Rocky’s training montage, it hasn’t been easy. I listen to NPR and Marc Maron’s podcasts a lot, and they both plug Squarespace pretty hard. I know some of the ads by heart, “With simple drag and drop templates…” Etc. Friends, it’s not all that simple. And you can’t solve all your problems by dragging and dropping. Believe me. I have tried.
I feel like Chrissy Tiegen right now after she lost whatever the text was for her original scallop recipe. But that’s ok because what she eventually wrote was excellent food writing (highly entertaining, plus great recommendations on how to get a good sear).
So I’m going to pull myself together, hit “Save” more frequently, and get this post up. Because friends, when you have a recipe you believe in, you just can’t quit.
Nobody puts this Dutch Baby in a corner.
What is a Dutch Baby you might be asking? It is an American riff on a German pancake. Invented in Seattle circa 1900 at a diner called Manca’s, these pancakes started small (originally served as three “babies”), and like so much else in America, they got bigger over time. Now, I don’t think it’s physically possible for one person to eat three. Who knew three eggs, half a cup of flour, and half a cup of milk could get so big? But they can. And I will tell you how.
While Dutch Babies are great to eat, they are arguably even greater to smell.
RECIPE - Lightly tweaked from The New York Times. Thank you, Florence Fabricant.
INGREDIENTS
3 eggs
½ cup flour
½ cup milk
1 tablespoon sugar
Pinch of nutmeg
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
Toppings of your choice (mine included blackberries, blueberries, powdered sugar, and NUTELLA. Of all of those, my #1 recommendation is Nutella. Because. Nutella.)
INSTRUCTIONS
Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees, and get your ingredients out so that they can reach room temperature. If they are cold, your Dutch baby won’t puff up properly, and you will be sad.
Next, combine eggs, flour, milk, sugar and nutmeg in a blender jar and blend until smooth. One cheat if you’re in a rush (because even in this pandemic, you are a BUSY PERSON) — you can run the blender for a little extra time. The friction of the blades will heat up whatever you are blending. Be careful to stop at room temperature. Batter may also be mixed by hand.
I confess, I was a “busy person” and whipped mine a little bit extra.
Place butter in a heavy 10-inch skillet or baking dish (I used a Dutch oven, so you could call it Double Dutch). Place in the oven. As soon as the butter has melted (watch it so it does not burn) add the batter to the pan.
Nothing like carbs suspended in a sea of butter.
Return pan to the oven and bake for 20 minutes, until the pancake is puffed and golden. Lower oven temperature to 300 degrees and bake five minutes longer.
Remove pancake from the oven. Smell its sweet perfume. Ornament it like a Christmas tree with the toppings of your choice because you are Brunch Santa and you have brought a wonderful gift to your home.
Because I love Mudit, I shared this with him.
Because I wanted to feel healthy, I added berries. Because I wanted it to be delicious, I added Nutella. The powdered sugar was primarily for that je ne suis qua of “I just whipped this up and happen to not only have regular sugar but also POWDERED SUGAR in my cupboard!” type of look.
I AM BRUNCH SANTA
