Lemon Sugar Dutch Baby

Friday, April 20, 2012

lemon sugar dutchbaby

 A few weeks ago, my roommate told me her favorite brunch food was a Dutch Baby.  Knockawhat??  I did a double take and asked her to repeat what she just said.  I then took to the internet to make sure she wasn’t importing small children from the Netherlands to eat and instead discovered what is now one of my all time favorite breakfast/brunch items to make because a) it’s incredibly easy and b) it’s also pretty much one of the most impressive things you could possibly put on a table in front of guests, not to mention one of the most tasty.

To put it in simplest terms, a Dutch Baby is a cross between a pancake and a popover.  It’s the size of a very large pancake but it’s eggy and puffy from steam in the batter just like a popover.  The difference is that in this case the batter is sweetened or spiced and instead of serving it with Sunday Pot Roast, it’s sprinkled with sugar and spritzed with fresh lemon juice.

The reason we were even discussing Dutch Babies in the first place was because my roommate was complaining that they were hard to come by in restaurants.  I promised her I would make one for her soon and last weekend we all gathered on the floor around the coffee table and had our first Apartment 5 Dutch Baby.  Like I said, it was so easy and so deliciously sweet and tart that I’m sure it won’t be long before another one graces our brunch table-and I’ll be counting down the days until it does.

Lemon Sugar Dutch Baby
Adapted from Gourmet
Serves 4

  • 3 large eggs that have been sitting at room temperature for 30 minutes
  • 2/3 cup whole milk at room temperature
  • 2/3 cup flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon coarse salt
  • 1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
  1. Find a 10″ cast iron or oven proof skillet, place it on the middle rack in your oven, and heat oven to 450 degrees (start this step early because you want the skillet to be very hot and the batter takes no time to throw together).
  2. Beat the eggs on high speed for a few minutes until pale and frothy.
  3. Add the milk, flour, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and keep beating for another minute, until the ingredients are smooth and fully incorporated.
  4. Using heavy duty oven mitts, pull the skillet out of the oven (close the oven door), and put it down on the stove or somewhere else heatproof.  Toss the pieces of butter into the skillet and swirl the skillet around so that it is fully coated as the butter melts.
  5. Once the butter is fully melted, pour the batter in and immediately pop the skillet back into the oven.
  6. Bake for about 20 minutes; it should look puffy and evenly golden brown around the edges when it’s done.
  7. While it’s in the oven baking, stir together the sugar and lemon zest in a small bowl and set aside.
  8. Once the Dutch Baby is done, pull it out of the oven, sprinkle a few spoonfuls of lemon sugar over it and serve immediately while still warm.  Serve with lemon wedges to squeeze over the slices of Dutch Baby and the extra lemon sugar for those who need a little more sweetness.  Enjoy!

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