Bismarck or Dutch Baby

Sometimes called a Bismarck, sometimes a Dutch Baby, sometimes a German Pancake, and sometimes probably a whole mess of things. What it is is a baked pancake that houses some delicious fruit (if desired), and a warm, soft interior, yet crispy exterior.

Easier and quicker to make than regular pancakes and possibly even healthier because it's sugar free. This naturally no added sugar pancake will please everyone. Other variations include cooked fruit or preserves or plain with a dusting of powdered sugar and or cinnamon. Enjoy!

Bismarck or Dutch Baby

Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients

• 1/2 stick butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 pear, sliced thin
• lemon juice

Cooking Directions

1. Heat oven to 475 F.
2. Place butter in cast iron or oven-safe dish. Put in oven once it has reached 475 F. Melt the butter until it sizzles and then take it out.
3. Meanwhile, mix together the flour, milk, and eggs into a batter. Do not overmix.
4. Make sure the butter has coated the entire pan, and pour the batter into the center.
5. Bake in the oven for 12 minutes, until it has puffed up and started to brown.
6. Take the pan out and place the Bismarck / Dutch Baby on a plate.
7. Sprinkle lemon juice over it and place pear slices everywhere.
8. Roll it up and serve immediately.

Dorayaki (Japanese Filled Pancakes)

Japanese filled pancakes. Or as we like to call them: Dorayaki! Hehe how fun!

They're just so cute and delicious. Sweet azuki beans sandwiched between moist little pancakes. Such a treat.

Perfect for breakfast on the go, perfect for dessert, or perfect for a snack. Dorayaki! Enjoy!

Dorayaki (Japanese Filled Pancakes)

Yield: 14-28 Dorayaki
Ingredients

• 3 large eggs
• 8 tablespoons sugar
• 5 tablespoons milk
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 180g self-rising flour
• 1 can sweet red beans

Cooking Directions

1. Beat eggs in a bowl and whisk it, then slowly add in sugar and continue to whisk very well.
2. Add milk and honey in the egg mixture
3. Add sifted flour in the egg mixture gradually until the mixture becomes smooth.
4. Cover the mixture with plastic wrap and let it stand for 30 minutes
5. Heat a non-stick pan on medium low heat.
6. Pour a scoop of the batter in the pan to make it a small pancake. (I used 1 tablespoon as the scoop size)
7. Turn over when bubbles appear on the surface (about 3 minutes) and cook the other side for 40 sec to 1 minute max. (Like a pancake!) The pancake should have 1 side with coffee color and another side with pale brown color.
8. Place the cake on a wire rack and let it cool.
9. To assemble the Dorayaki, look for 2 pieces with about the same shape and side.
10. Place 1 scoop of sweet red bean on the pale yellow side and cover with another cake with the same side.

**Optional: If the pancakes seem too thick to eat two of them with red bean inside, simply slice them in half (as we did with some) and fill with red bean. Voila!

Recipe courtesy of Masakan Istimewa

Ebelskivers!

We got a gift recently - an ebelskiver pan. You probably know what an ebelskiver is already, but just in case you don't....think of an ebelskiver as a puffy filled pancake. Pretty awesome, huh?

Sure, you can go around using fancy and homemade ebelskiver/pancake batter, but not I. Why do that when all the fun is in the filling? That's where creativity reigns supreme!

For instance, you could do banana in one, chocolate tahini in another, honey and nut butter in another, strawberry jam in another, banana and peanut butter and bacon in another, and bacon and cheese in the last one. Ohhh yeah.


So let your heart and your imagination be your guide. Enjoy!

Stove Top Beer Bread

So I'm having a brewski the other night and decide to experiment with the last of it by making a beer bread. How cool, I thought.

But then I didn't want to wait around for it to bake or anything like that as is traditionally done, so I ventured onto the internet in search of something that could be made on the stove instead. Then I came across this Stove Top Beer Bread from Cut Out + Keep - huzzah! Theirs comes out much more like a biscuit (which is what I was intending), and mine came out more like Beer Bread Pancakes.

Still delicious with a hint of beer and with the dash of thyme and rosemary, it really developed an intense flavor the next day. So I did what anyone would do in this situation (right?) and topped my little beer breadies with some sunflower seed butter and had at a couple.

Now you may be wondering...does beer bread go with beer? My answer: does anything not go with beer? Enjoy!

Cottage Cheese Pancakes!

I'm kind of proud of these pictures - for once. It's all thanks to the fact that we made something early enough that the light shown beautifully into the kitchen at just the right angle. Well, moving on...

Have you ever heard of cottage cheese pancakes? I hadn't until J told me about the fond childhood memories she had with her friend and devouring one after the other right out of the pan. So we just had to have them!

I imagined they would be like a regular pancake - you know, cakey and whatnot but with cottage cheese in the recipe. Oh how wrong I was. It's almost like the Oatmeal Pancakes or even the Pumpkin Oatmeal Pancakes from last autumn.

They're so light, delicate, and simple I can't help but eat a ton of them. I'm always interested in new kinds of pancakes and breakfast foods in general, so if you have any recipes to share, please do. And if you've heard/made cottage cheese pancakes yourself, do tell. Maybe there's an exciting variation out there we can try. Enjoy!

Injera - Ethiopian Bliss

Injera is normally made out of Teff, a grain from Ethiopia. I don't have Teff. I've looked high and low and come up short every time. So I ventured to make my own. Reasoning it was similar to a pancake, and learning from Wikipedia that it was fermented with yeast, I mixed up a pancake batter and let it ferment overnight on the counter.

Now I don't know if any wild yeast found their way into my pancake mix, and I don't know if it was because the batter seemed thicker than normal pancake batter, and I don't know if it was because I really really wanted it to turn out well, but it did! The faux-, mock-, whatever-you-want-to-call-it injera was light and spongy. I mean it wasn't 100% light like injera at an Ethipoian restaurant, though it really was as spongy, I swear.

I should have taken a picture. Blast! I just couldn't stop myself from cooking up the other Ethiopian dishes: Ayib Be Gomen and a kind of Wat. It all turned out really well, and the injera soaked up the Wat beautifully.

Read on for my recipe for Injera. Enjoy!

Oatmeal Pancake

These are simple, basic, and can be topped with anything you want. Try bananas, berries, or whatever fruit/greek yogurt combo you want. These are basically the Pumpkin Oatmeal Pancakes without the pumpkin. They don't look as beautiful, but they're full of healthy goodness. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Oatmeal Pancakes

We used up the very very last of the pumpkin with this - finally! Pumpkin Oatmeal Pancakes, mmm mmm. Despite how it might look in the picture (forgive my horrible photography skills), they turn out very well. They're moist, light, and flavorful. And they pack a powerful punch of fiber and sweet, sweet beta carotene.

We learned of the original recipe from Kath Eats and proceeded to tweak it slightly to our tastes. For one, we increased everything to use 1/3 cup of pumpkin instead of the 1/4 cup, and balanced out the rest of it as well, using 1 whole egg instead of just egg whites. If you've made both kinds, what did you think? Enjoy!

Puffy Pumpkin Pancakes

These are uber easy to make. With the mix it's just a matter of balancing the water and pumpkin so it's moist enough. The darker one has the cinnamon added, which gave it an extra little kick. Quite nice, actually. Simple, easy, and delicious. What more could you want? Enjoy!