Well. I've kinda been having one of those flop-like baking weeks. If you ask me, anyway. Ask anyone else that lives here and they'll tell you that's ridiculous, one broken bundt definitely doesn't define my week. But to them, they only care about what stuff tastes like. That is super important, but I'm a sucker for pretty presentation. When things break or fruit gets mushy, I'm not happy. I can't take pretty pictures and, subsequently, can't blog about the recipe.
I want the stuff I post here to be almost foolproof, and easy to understand. If I can't get a bundt to come out right, then it goes to my "to fuss with later" pile. The bundt itself tasted amazing, but it could be better. I don't go for second best.
What else happened? Well, I got peaches out of season, first strike. They were for a pandowdy (waaay too much fun to say with a Southern accent), a lovely pandowdy consisting of blackberries and gingered peaches. My peaches were tiny, and mushy. After mercilessly gutting them, I knew they had to be used right away. I got my filling together, my crust was chilling out in the fridge, and the oven was ready. Then the power went out.
I started the pandowdy preparations at about 1:00 that afternoon, and it didn't get into a hot oven until 6:00. I passed those hours wringing my hands, trying to read, yelling at anyone who let the cold escape from the fridge, and eating brie.
Needless to say, I'll hold off on the pandowdy-ing until peaches are more in season. And I am so fricken thankful for functioning electricity, and am definitely thinking that investing in a gas oven for emergencies only wouldn't be a bad idea.
But, I did successfully candy ginger, made killer enchiladas, and lovely cupcakes (recipe tomorrow!). But that bundt really got to me, I hate hate hate it when things don't come out of a pan right. So I decided to a pull a Dutch Baby, I needed to blog about something. I had to write out my frustration. And I wanted a breakfast that wasn't pieces of chocolate bundt. Enter this friendly, foolproof pancake.
But that bundt hasn't had the last say. We will meet again.
Brown Butter Dutch Baby Pancake with Lemon and Sugar
Yield: one 8 or 9-inch pancake, enough to fill up one belly. Recipe can be doubled using the same pan, or two 6-inch skillets, to serve two.
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (if doubling the recipe, don't double this amount, it will still grease the pan just fine)
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/4 cup half-and-half
- a pinch of salt
- Freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Powdered sugar, sifted
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Put the butter in an 8 or 9-inch cast-iron skillet (you can also use a similarly-sized cake pan or pie plate), and place in the preheated oven. Let the butter cook and sizzle, swirling occasionally, until the butter is melted and there are brown solids. Remove from the oven and tilt around, completely covering the sides and bottom with brown butter.
Meanwhile, in a blender, or with a bowl and whisk, mix together the eggs, flour, half-and-half, and salt until well-blended. Pour into the warm skillet, and slide into the oven. Bake for 18-25 minutes, or until the center looks set and the edges have risen and are golden brown. It will rise and puff around the pan while in the oven, but will deflate as it cools.
Remove from the oven. Drizzle with lemon juice and generously sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve immediately.
Sources: adapted from Orangette's book, A Homemade Life (Incidentally, this is one of my favorite books ever. I heart Molly Wizenberg.)
