Puffy Fruit Pancake

The best recipes are the simplest. Like this one: cook a bit of fruit in butter, pour a quick eggy batter over the top, and bake until puffy. Dust with confectioner's sugar and you have an easy, satisfying snack or brunch dish.

A puffy pancake from last September, made with
plums and wild black raspberries.

I don't know the official name for this delicious concoction - puff(ed) pancake? Dutch or German pancake? Though it's usually made with apples, I like to use summer fruit too, so I'll just call it a puffy fruit pancake. (I jotted down this recipe on a piece of notepaper, as dictated by my niece over the telephone, so I don't know the source. If I find out I'll edit the post to give proper acknowlegement to the originating chef.)

This recipe doubles or triples very well - just be prepared to bake it a little longer.

Puffy Fruit Pancake

Heat oven to 425°

In bowl, whisk together:

1/2 cup milk, half-and-half or cream (I used rice milk with a bit of cream)
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Add:

1/3 cup flour
Spices to taste, appropriate to the fruit you'll be using - I like cinnamon for apples, nutmeg for berries, cardamom for pears, and ginger with just about anything. You can also sprinkle the spices onto the fruit in the next step, if you prefer.

Whisk until smooth and set aside.

If using firm fruit such as apple, pear, or stone fruits, slice 1 large fruit or 2 small-medium fruits (to yield about 1 cup) and sauté in 2 tablespoons melted butter. You can transfer the buttery fruit to a baking dish at this point, or add the batter and bake the pancake right in the skillet (skillet must be oven-proof).

Berries may be added just before batter is poured in - just sprinkle them over the other fruit.

If using berries only, do not sauté - toss them with a bit of sugar instead. Melt the 2 tablespoons butter in the bottom of a pie or baking dish, and sprinkle the berries in.

There's no hard and fast rule as to baking pan size, but I would suggest a pie pan for a 2-egg (single) recipe, a 10"-11" cake tin for a 4-egg (double) recipe, and a 9"x13" for 6 eggs (triple).

Pour batter over fruit and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until puffed and brown. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar and serve. Pancake will deflate after being removed from the oven, but this will not affect the flavour!

Have fun coming up with your own fruit combinations, and feel free to share them with the rest of us by leaving a comment below.

The patriotic puffy pancake from July 4th,
fresh out of the oven and awaiting its dusting of sugar.
This one had 4 eggs - a doubled recipe.

P.S. Confession time: after taking the above photo, as I was dusting the pancake with sugar, the strawberries suddenly exuded about a gallon of juice, causing the pancake to crack and revealing some uncooked interior (I should have used a bigger pan). I had to pop the whole thing back into the oven for 5-10 more minutes.  It puffed up quite spectacularly after the extra oven time, but unfortunately got a little charred toasty-looking around the edges - not as photogenic as in this shot. It was delicious nonetheless, and we polished off all but one slice that morning at breakfast.

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