Not gonna lie,
Mornings here on our homestead are not exactly leisurely…
Someday things will settle down, and I’ll be able to sit out on my covered porch with coffee cup in hand, sipping slowly while watching the chickens peck in the yard.
SOMEDAY.
But let’s be honest: I don’t even have a covered porch yet (it’s being built as we speak), and I’ll soon have 3 kids under the age of five. Do you know what that means? Ain’t nobody gonna be slowly sipping coffee around here for a while.
And when it comes to breakfast, it’s all about fast and easy. We do a lot of oatmeal, and green smoothies, and sometimes scrambled eggs, and whatever else I can throw together while my ravenous two-year old is hanging on my leg threatening a pre-breakfast melt-down. (He is a BEAR when he is hungry…)
Therefore, I love things like puff pancakes (aka German pancakes) which can be throw together in the midst of chaos, but still taste like you put some TLC into preparing them.
I tested this particular apple puff pancake recipe on a morning when:
a) Prairie Boy was running around outside wearing a diaper and cowboy boots,
b) Prairie Girl was running into the kitchen to repeatedly tattle on Prairie Boy,
c) The new puppy was tackling the kittens in the living room,
d) And my countertops were covered with all the veggies I had picked from the garden the previous day, but had yet to process, leaving me a 12″ space to prep breakfast.
So…. if this recipe can stand up to all that chaos, you KNOW it’s good.
Apple Puff Pancake Recipe
- 4 tablespoons butter or coconut oil (but I prefer butter)
- 4 tablespoons sucanat/rapadura, divided ** (I like this one)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 large apples, peeled, cored, and sliced thinly
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup flour (I use unbleached all-purpose flour like this one. You can use whatever you have)
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt (I use this one)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (how to make vanilla extract)
** Sucanat or rapadura is a type of unrefined, granulated cane sugar I use in all my baking. However, if you don’t have it, you can simply substitute in equal amounts of regular brown sugar.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. In a 10″ cast iron skillet, melt the butter and stir in 1 tablespoon sucanant and the cinnamon.
Cook the apples in the butter/sugar/cinnamon until they are soft and you have a lovely light brown syrup developing in the bottom of the pan from the delectable combination of the butter and sweetener.
Spread the apples out evenly over the pan, and remove from the heat.
In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly. You can do this with a whisk, stand mixer, hand mixer, or blender. If you use anything other than a blender, you might have a slightly lumpy batter, but I’ve never had the lumps cause problems.
Pour the batter over the apples, and place the cast iron skillet in the oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until puffed and brown.
Make sure to gather the kids around the oven when you pull out the pancake, so they can oooh and ahhh over how cool it looks and you can feel like Super Mom (or Dad) for at least a minute. It will deflate a minute or two after it comes out of the oven, but it’s pretty impressive in those initial moments.
Serve with fresh fruit and/or maple syrup, if you wish. However, we are usually fine with just eating ours plain.
Kitchen Notes:
- The apple version of this pancake doesn’t seem to puff quite as high as my regular puffed pancakes, but it’s still pretty.
- If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, you can use any sort of oven-proof pan that will also tolerate the stovetop.
Apple Puff Pancake Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Breakfast
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter or coconut oil (but I prefer butter)
- 4 tablespoons sucanat/rapadura, divided ** (Like this)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 large apples, peeled, cored, and sliced thinly
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup flour (I use unbleached all-purpose flour. You can use whatever you have)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (I use this one)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. In a 10″ cast iron skillet, melt the butter and stir in 1 tablespoon sucanant and the cinnamon.
- Cook the apples in the butter/sugar/cinnamon until they are soft and you have a lovely light brown syrup developing in the bottom of the pan from the delectable combination of the butter and sweetener.
- Spread the apples out evenly over the pan, and remove from the heat.
- In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly. You can do this with a whisk, stand mixer, hand mixer, or blender. If you use anything other than a blender, you might have a slightly lumpy batter, but I’ve never had the lumps cause problems.
- Pour the batter over the apples, and place the cast iron skillet in the oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until puffed and brown.
- Serve with fresh fruit and/or maple syrup, if you wish.
Oh thank you! I’m not alone 🙂
I deal with everything I just read …..except diapers (my boys are 12 and 13) and hair to brush (no girls).
It is so hard to get it all done especially because I homeschool so that goes until after lunch.
Yesterday, we had to have pumpkin pancakes with sauteed apples AGAIN because I forgot until 12:30 that dinner that night was a slow cooker meal.
My boys now set their alarm for 7:30 and get up (or roll over and go back to sleep) so that helps in the morning since I don’t get back from barn chores until at least 7:30.
Love this recipe! I still have a ton of apples left and this will help.
You need an instant pot. I can have dinner from frozen to table in less than an hour. An one pot to wash is another benefit.
Can I have mine with vanilla ice-cream?
Oh Yum!!
Definitely!
I made this this morning and it is delish! I didn’t have apples so I just did browned butter and a tiny bit of brown sugar. My kids are gobbling it up! Thank you for such an easy recipe ??
This sounds yummy! Breakfast tomorrow!! Think you could use Honey instead of the sucanat/rapadura or brown sugar??
I haven’t tried it with honey– worth a try, though! Let me know how it turns out!
Did the honey work?
Delish!!
I tried this with recipe with GF flour, 4 1/2 Tbsps ( 4 wasn’t enough) of coconut brown sugar, 3 eggs and followed the rest of the recipe.. didn’t turn out as fluffy but turned out good;) thanks for sharing!!
I also forgot to say I used Unsweetened Vanilla almond milk and cooked it for way longer than recommended.. we liked it more cooked it gave it a good crisp:) now today I’m trying it with the same ingredients I used last time but trying 4 small eggs and Lactaid whole milk and seeing the difference
So, above the recipe calls for 4 eggs, but the printable version calls for 3 eggs. Ack! I have apples on the stove now, wondering how many to crack?
Well, mine is in the oven, I used 3 per the printed recipe… we’ll see how it works!
So with 3 eggs it was good, if you did 4, I’m thinking it would be WAAYYY “eggy”…. or you might have to add more flour?? Mine didn’t look quite like Jills but it was still tasty! 🙂
Shoot, I just saw this, didn’t even notice the difference I. The two recipes. We shall see how it turns out using the four eggs. ?
Sorry about that! I’ve tried it both ways, and it turns out fine. We prefer the texture of 4 eggs, though. 🙂
I have just recently had a German pancake at a bead and breakfast we stayed at to celebrate my husband’s birthday and it was so good. I said I was going to find a recipe and make one pronto. Well a week has gone by now and I never did get around to finding that recipe…well look, it found me! Thanks definitely going to try this right away…or more likely in a week or two. Oy. Haha.
I love timing like that! 🙂
Awesome! We have made “German Pancackes”, also called “Dutch Babies”, since I was 5! With my husband on a high protein diet, he can eat this well. Mine has 6 eggs, but it’s a delicate balance to get it to puff, if I tweak the recipe too much! Room temperature ingredients seem to be the best trick. LOVE the idea of the apple slices, and I top it with a sprinkle of nutmeg! Thanks for the idea! Can’t wait for Saturday!
I was going to suggest room temperature for the batter as well. Perhaps first make the batter, and then start cooking the apples while the batter sits. I like to do 2 cups of flour, 2 cups of milk and 4 eggs. I have also had this where the pancake is made plain, and then topped with a combination of the sautéed apples and breakfast sausage links cut into smaller chunks, or even the cooked breakfast sausage links baked right into the pancake. It’s one of our favorite breakfast for dinner meals.
Yes, some of mine puff more than others. 🙂
Hi Jill, I made this recipe for puff pancake lastnight for a dinner breakfast. I followed the recipe using the 4 eggs. The only difference for me was I didn’t have whole milk. Can you tell me how that would have impacted the outcome? We enjoyed it. But somehow I expected it to have a bit more body in after it was baked – but I may not be familiar with this type of batter. I did review more than once looking for a leavening like baking powder, or soda. I am wondering what the outcome might be with self rising flour. Either way I will make this again. Thank you! Lori
Using non-whole milk shouldn’t have changed it much. No, it doesn’t have a lot of “body.” It’s a fairly light breakfast. I’ve never seen a puff pancake recipe that uses leavening though.
I love this recipe. It’s my company breakfast. I separate the eggs and beat the whites while I mix the rest together (with the pan of apples, peaches, or cherries in the oven) and then blend the egg yolk mixture and whites together. It still flops but is light. Thanks for sharing.
Puffy pancakes are great for company!
Well, at least it’s the 2-yr-old running around outside in a diaper & cowboy boots & not you! Somedays I feel crazy enough it could happen. Lol
haha– yes!
Hmmm…I’m thinking I may give this a go in the morning. I’m also thinking since I canned a bunch of apple dessert filling today and have some left over that wouldn’t fit in a jar, that I may try putting that on the bottom. It’s the apples, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, along with Clear Gel…but hey, if nothing else than raising three boys I’ve learned flexibility is key. May end up being soggy on the bottom, but regardless, I’ll find myself staring at the bottom of an empty pan. Smiling & Waving, Sharon
That sounds yummy!
This recipe sounds good. we have an old farm house with no oven, but i do have an iron skillet with lid. Is there anway to make this on the stove top like a Regular pancake? Other suggestions? The fam is missing the home made bread!
Hmmm… I’ve never tried just cooking it on the stovetop. I’m afraid it might burn on the bottom,though, before it could cook all the way through.
Ty so much for recipe! I had one like it yrs ago….this time I added more eggs to make it more filling…..delish. I enjoy reading your blog when I hv a few moments. Tho I don’t farm…or hv small children under foot anymore…I’m quite busy with sm. Business. Have a blessed day!
I agree– I like it with more eggs as it has more “body” to it. 🙂
Tried this recipe this AM and it was amazing. Loved the texture with 3 eggs. Hubby loved it too! We talked about trying it with blueberries.
Oooooh… it’d be awesome with blueberries!!
We have been making this with fresh peaches lately. Sooo yummy! Thanks for the recipe. 🙂
Oooh, I like that idea!
Yum! I made it this morning and was sure to call my family to the table before it was taken out of the oven. DELICIOUS!!
Hooray!
Loved this. Who needs syrup or jelly. It was great for breakfast and even better reheated in the mic for lunch the next day!
Just as easy and delicious as you say. I used a 10″ skillet as directed but I’d like to use a 12″ next time for my big family. Any clue how much more to add? Just double it? Ideas?? Reminds me of a similar german pancake recipe I use, love it even more with the sauteed apples.
What do you think about using maple syrup instead of the sucanat or brown sugar?
Love this recipe! Have v made it several times! It is awesome!
My kids ask for this dish regularly; we have it every couple weeks. I even reduced the amount of sugar by half and they didn’t even noticed, it is that good. Adding a touch of nutmeg helped too. Thank you!
Has anyone tried making this using Almond milk instead of whole milk? I have 2 children with dairy sensitivities.
Yes, I tried it and it worked out fine!
I substituted almond milk, used 3 eggs, plus extra apples and it turned out fine. It was a great way to use up some of the apples from our apple tree. Total volume of cut apples was 4 cups which was 7 small apples. I will make again!
Can you make this without a cast iron pan??
Yes– you could also make it in any other type of oven-safe pan
I made Dutch Babies, decades ago when Sunset Magazine was a great magazine and it featured Dutch Babies on the front cover. Maybe 40 yrs ago. Made it plain with fresh strawberries and powder sugar on top. I made it many times for company and loved the “oos and awes,” when I put it on the table. When made plain it seems to deflate when cut. This recipe with the apples on the bottom is perfect for this time of year with all the apples around. I am 70 and single now, but still, I do the garden and the baking. The garden is much smaller and leans toward what I eat instead of experimenting with newer vegetables. I am new to this site and am finding it quite exciting.
Wow! Strawberries and powdered sugar dutch baby sounds incredible!
Could I use sliced apples that have been canned in a light syrup? will they be too mushy?
I can’t imagine why not! I’d probably just try to “drain” them as much as possible so they don’t make the pancake soggy. 🙂
Has anybody tried this with gluten free flour? I have a flour that is supposed to replace all purpose flour 1:1, but I know there are usually texture differences.
Hi Shannon! I personally don’t have experience with GF flour, but if you try it please check back and let us know how it goes!!
Hi Jill, what a great recipe! Thank you for sharing. I was wondering if at some point you could give instruction on how to season, care, and clean cast iron skillets. I have several that were handed down to me from my great grandmother and I do not know how clean them. Anyways, I always enjoy your emails. I’ve been following you for years now and truly enjoy reading your posts.
Thank you, Deanna
We’re so glad you love the recipe!! And thanks for the post request! We’ll keep it in mind for the future. 🙂
Well, Jill, you have done it! This is a new favourite with our family…has been since you posted it earlier this fall. Every time I have made it, it has been a resounding success. Tried it with plums from our tree, but everyone prefers the apples.
Happy New Year and bless you for enriching our Christmas morning breakfast table!!!!
So glad to hear that you love it!
Going to have to try this soon, with our local apples! Meanwhile, 4 stars for being so close to my favourite Dutch pannekoek! What’s missing is the bacon that you start to fry before adding the pieces of apple, and the buckwheat in the batter (I think 15-20% minimum). My mom also liked to add some coarse oatmeal. These are baked on rather high heat, so you have to flip them at least once, and traditionally served with (lots of) molasses.
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