Dutch Baby, aka German Pancake

I dined with  a friend yesterday at The Original Pancake House and I tried to be healthy, so I got one of their ginormous egg white omelets. But the dutch baby on the menu called out to me, and I ignored it, but I couldn't help looking it up once I got home because come on, who can resist a name like that? A dutch baby is also known as a German pancake, and it involves baking pancake batter in a cast iron skillet. It's typically served with powdered sugar and a dash of lemon juice. I spontaneously decided to make it for breakfast today (government employee = no work on Columbus day!), but I didn't have any lemons on hand, so I improvised with blackberries since it's another tart fruit.

Preheat oven to 400F and put your cast iron skillet into the oven to heat up. Be VERY CAREFUL to use oven mitts at all times! Cast iron skillets are tricky little buggers cause of its high heat capacity, so the material retains heat for a long time.

Cut a knob of butter (3 Tbsp) and melt in the microwave until you have a pool of butter.

In a blender, add 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp flour, 2 Tbsp sugar, 2/3 cup milk (I used soy), 1 Tbs of the melted butter, 2 whole eggs and an egg white, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp vanilla extract.

Blend well (but not too long), scraping down the sides as necessary.

Once the skillet has been warmed up (approx 10 minutes), remove from the oven and add the remaining butter. Swirl around carefully, since its probably splashing all over the place, and pour in your batter. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, being careful to NOT open the oven door since it could cause the pancake to deflate.

Meanwhile, I threw some frozen blackberries and an arbitrary amount of sugar into a saucepan and cook for about 5 minutes. There should be sweet blackberry nectar oozing out, but the fruit should remain intact and pretty.

This is what the pancake should look like! Or something like that, it might be more/less burnt depending on your oven. My pic is kinda fug, but it's delicious since the bottom is all crispy while the middle is pillowy. Cut into pieces, sprinkle with powdered sugar, and top with blackberries or any other fruit you want to use. Leftovers can be refrigerated and reheated on the stove top until crispy.

Source: Dutch Baby from Simply Recipes