german pancakes
Well no, I don’t. Do your parents ever do this? Insist you ate something often — it was practically a staple, mind you — and it’s news to you. I have no recollection of these puffy, curly, easy-as-sin goodies but I won’t be forgetting them any time soon. They taste like thick, winding crepes with just a hint of sweetness. The recipe suggests you serve them with butter, powdered sugar and lemon wedges, mom suggests her favorite, raspberry syrup but Alex and I are more the Vermont pure maple and fresh berries type.
The recipe, by the way, mom says she got from one of those inserts that came with her at least 30-year old blender, completely crushing my romanticized notions of this being something her parents over brought from the “old country.” Sigh. Of course, it suggests you make this in a blender my hand-mixer worked just fine, as I am sure would a whisk. It takes about 2.5 minutes to assemble, 30 minutes to bake and four, maybe five minutes to eat, though it will take restraint to even stretch it out that long. Loopy breakfast goodness doesn’t get any better than this.
German Pancakes
From my mom’s old blender cookbook
Yield 2 9-inch pancakes.
4 eggs
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup flour, sifted
2/3 cup milk
2 tablespoons soft butter
Heat oven to 400°F. Butter two 9-inch cake pans well. Put eggs in blender container, cover and process at “stir” until light yellow in color. Push “mix” button, remove cover and add remaining ingredients; process until smooth. Pour into prepared pans and bake 20 minutes; then reduce heat to 350°F and bake 10 minutes. Slide onto hot plates. Serve with lemon slices, powdered sugar and butter if you follow recipes to the letter, raspberry syrup if you’re my mom or maple syrup and fresh berries if you’re us.
I am SO making those – it would probably be a good thing to use the wedding blender for something other than margaritas…
Wow! We aren’t usually up early enough on the weekends to make breakfast but I think I may try those in the morning before I dive into a project that really needs to be finished now rather then later!
Yum!! I might make those tomorrow morning. Depends how late we are out tonight.
Thanks!
We used to go to Sunday breakfast at the Original Pancake House when i was growing up…this was my favorite pancake there (aside from the potato pancakes, and ooh the cottage cheese crepes, of course). I’ve made it at home since then. Another thing you can do is put very thinly sliced apples in the bottom before baking.
Seriously, where are you getting raspberries that look that good at this time of year? Do they cost nine dollars per berry or something? They look divine (as do the pancakes under them, of course.)
whoa… this made me teary eyed.
my “Oma” made those all the time… and we got the “old country stories” while she made them B L A S T I N G German music.. she would sing to that music like we sing to the good ol 80’s hair band stuff..
(she passed away a few months ago, spent the last 10 years of her life thinking she was hiding from the Nazi’s..anyways)
Thanks for the awesome memory, Deb.
OMG…I think I died viewing those pictures. Where did you get berries this time of year? Now, I’m going to be making those for my boyfriend New Year’s morning. PS…I took your advice regarding my newest online venture! :D
Deb, those look so very good. Funny about what we remember and what we don’t and I always love how two people at the same event/moment in time can have such different stories to tell about “the same thing”.
I’ve been wanting to try something like these. I think they might be just real good with my cranberry curd.
Do those just turn out loopy on their own? I’m assuming that after pouring the batter into the cake pan, the batter is probably flat and level…
My mom used to make these but she called them “Dutch Babies.” I think they’re the same thing? Anyhow, that name used to freak me out so I distinctly do remember eating them.
What my family calls German pancakes are thin, more like crepes. We had them for dinner as often as we had them for breakfast. The preferred topping was a bit of butter and cinnamon and sugar. Then roll and cut. Mmmm.
Like Lisa, I’ve called pancakes like yours Dutch Babies. Also delicious!
Whoa. Ok, I have to seriously get crackin. Cause I was already behind making the bretzels, and the scones, and now this…g/f is gonna love it. Heck, everyone here seems to be on a no carb diet. Let’s see if I can get them to sin :)
I think I’ll have mine with…mmmm! Homeade honeybutter, and some nice, RIPE bannana slices :) Oh, yeah.
ps..I have this great gravy flour I use all the time, its like, superfine…do you think I could substitute that for sifted flour?
I just made these- they are awesome, especially if you hate regular pancakes like I do.
Without the sugar, these are a great base for a quick supper. Cooking Light had a recipe several years back – after the baking, add a mixture of pan fried zucchini slices and onion, top with sliced tomatoes, then cheddar cheese, bake for another few minutes until the cheese is melted, and voila! Crunchy bread, salad and dinner is done!
I just made these also. Very good! The boy wants to know when I can make them again. :) They were similiar to the British “Toad in the Hole”, which, from memory uses less flour and has sausages in the middle (but same poofiness).
My oven must be HOT though, I had to turn it down to 350 at about 15 min, and then with only four min left overall, I just turned the oven off.
Oh, and I used a whisk and it was great (perfect for laziness).
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tammimarie/312955415/
(pic definitely no where near as nice as yours).
Just be happy that your mom remembers anything at all. When I ask my mom questions about my childhood, most of the time I’m met with a blank stare. It makes me wonder what the hell was up with my mom that she has blocked out my childhood?? lol. :)
I made a different version of German pancakes a while back. I made them in little ramikans (sp) and they were more of a custard consistency than your beautiful puffy ones. I sauteed granny smith apples and they were baked in the oven. Very different — but good too. :) I’ve always wanted to try the classic, puffy variety like you made. Gorgeous gorgeous pictures by the way. :)
I’ll have to try your version, except I think powdered sugar and lemon is the only way to eat these. My sister cooks apples with cinnamon and dumps that in the middle. We used equal amounts of egg, flour, milk and never used sugar or salt. We called these Dutch babies, but they sound and look the same.
And I did feed these to my kids all the time, but only my youngest remembers them. Wonder if they cause memory loss?
inspiration to wake up a bit earlier on the weekend! i remember a particularly tasty version of this w/slices of (probably sauteed) apples
i made these today – thank you! they were sooooo wonderful and i do believe they will become a weekend breakfast staple in our house.
i blogged about it too! see here:
http://look.livejournal.com/739003.html
i’ve been reading you for a long time – since pre-ivillage days and want you to know you are my fave food blog. :)
lisa
Deb, I’m so glad to see that you’re going to keep up the grueling NaBloPoMo pace! I’ve really enjoyed the daily deliciousness and spectacular photos.
My mother learned how to make these pancakes from her older sister, who had just gotten married and was living in Germany (this would’ve been sometime in the late 60’s). Her sister offered them up as a quick and comforting treat to make during the months that my mom was working on her senior thesis – hence, in my family we knew them as Thesis Pancakes. I was a teenager before I realized that wasn’t their real name.
They are wonderful, and fun to make (we always used a cast-iron pan and loved the fantastical puffiness as they cooked). I can’t imagine eating them with anything but lemon and powdered sugar, though. In my family we saved the maple syrup for my dad’s more “regular” pancakes :)
My husband was sitting next to me when I opened this entry, and now you’ve won him over too. He also asked what we were having for breakfast this morning. I think he was disappointed when I said cereal, but his face brightened when I said I’d try these this weekend.
Definetely having to give these a try – though I don’t know if it’ll be enough to feed my pancake-loving family :D
Well, I’m German and I can assure you, that those pancakes are very popular over here. They are usually eaten with just sugar and cinnamon on top of them or chocolate sauce, but they’re also very good with vegetable/ mushroom fillings. The puffyness, I believe, comes from the water and steam, that collects under the cover.
I think this might be a regional variety of pancakes. I grew up in Germany and we never baked them in the oven or ate them with lemons :)
The recipe looks similar (I think, though we separate the eggs before they go in) but we used to fry them, preferably in butter, and eat them with apple sauce or a mix of cinnamon and sugar. I also love them with thinly sliced apples and some cinnamon thrown into the batter just after it hits the frying pan.
And it’s only when I moved to North America that I learned pancakes were a breakfast food :)
Oh, hi, I’m newish around here.
I have one question for someone that has now made these – the butter in the recipe – is it for buttering the pan or do you actually put it in the batter?
I made some yesterday. Fantastic!
Those are neat-looking and they look pretty yummy. I’m going to have to earmark the recipe and make it some cold weekend morning!
Wow – it just totally gave me a double-take to come comment and see another “Traci” – I had to stop and think whether I’d already commented or not. lol.
Anyway, they look yummy and I’ll bet my pancake-scarfing kids will love them!
How did you get them to curl and wave so pretty? What’s the secret, it doesnt look like something they would do on their own (none of the others i saw did, anyway.)
This looks wonderful! I’m thinking about trying it this weekend but — the sifting. I hate to sift! How necessary is it to this recipe?
That sounds too easy to be right. I’ll be making these this weekend or tomorrow morning (if I can wake up early). I don’t have cake pans actually… will have to scrounge something up. I DO, however, have a dishwasher, so I’m not sure if that trumps sky light or not ;)
My mother learned this recipe from her father- who knows where he got it from. We melt lemon juice and butter together and sprinkle on powdered sugar. For really really pouffy pancakes, we use cast iron skillets (two 6″ pans for individual sized pancakes), heated with oil in them on the stovetop, then put them into a 425 degree oven. Turn the heat down 25 degrees every 5 minutes for 20 minutes total cooking time. They’re delicious. And a definite childhood staple. I always thought no one knew about these except my family! Glad to know others enjoy these.
Elizabeth’s description is exactly how my mom used to make them. (We called them Dutch pancakes though.) Lemon juice, butter, and powdered sugar, and baked in cast iron skillets. Yum!
I made these for lunch today and they were heavenly. The kids wanted pancakes… I was tired of making the same old pancake recipe and my mind flashed back to these scrumptious looking creations.
The kids loved watching them puff up and bake in the oven. Entertainment and lunch… you can’t beat that!
Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Kristen
Is this also known as a doughbaby?
they look scrumptious!
my fiance and i ate these for brunch today…delicious with powdered sugar and maple syrup. thanks.
Thank you so much for posting this recipe. My mom made the exact same ones and I definitely do remember them fondly . (She always served them with sauteed apples with cinnamon.) I made them on special occasions for years until I lost the “Spin Cookery: Ozterizer Blender Cookbook” in a move. My niece specially requested them for her birthday breakfast this weekend, and voila, a google search led me to your blog. Thanks very much!
Wow . . . . . ^.^ Great pictures. I want one now. (Maybe for breakfast tomorrow.)
Dutch Baby Pancakes . . . sweet. I love making these things. They puff up so much in the oven and look so elegant and yet are so easy to make. I’ve even altered the recipe and made it rather more savory than sweet, nixing the sugar, sprinkling shredded veggies like zucchini, carrots, red peppers, mushrooms and feta cheese on top with various herbs like basil, garlic, and oregano on top to bake with the pancakes with a lot of success as well.
But we had this recipe from an ancient “Cooking for two” cookbook that’s lived on our kitchen shelf for over twenty-six years– Mom only uses two recipes in it, and this is one of them.
Uhh.. Well Pancakes differ from city to city. Not that I have ever seen one of those.
That is so great :).
Well I guess I need to phone my Dad, and theres a specialty where I´m from, its called puffelskuchen.
Actualy there is a specialty, during Karneval you´re not supposed to eat meat. So you make beech-nut Pancakes, thick ones, and you hide Metwurst
(MEHT-wurst; MEHT-vursht] Also called Schmierwurst because it’s soft enough to smear or spread, this German pork sausage is bright red, fatty and seasoned with coriander and white pepper. Though it’s uncooked, mettwurst is cured, smoked and ready to eat. It’s usually spread on bread or crackers
inside the pancake (…)
And now the funny part. It is served with Vanilla Sauce. My Grandma made it once.. and I liked a lot.
You´ll get that recipe too, promised.
greets
Ingo
I made these this past week and WOW!! so delicious!! the only issue I had with these was the cooking time, I baked mine at 400F for 20 minutes (the recommended time for the first part), but by then they were well-done , perfectly golden – maybe a little too much around the edges, but delicious nonetheless – they didn’t need the extra 10 minutes at 350F! Keep an eye on them while they cook, big variation from oven to oven I suppose.
No matter – they where more than satisfying! Keeping this recipe on hand for sure – plus it’s too easy to memorize… good thing or bad?
so this is an interesting recipe plus an interesting debate about where these “german” pancakes might come from. i’m german and – like smashedpea – have never heard of a pancake that is baked for 30 minutes in the oven. the pancakes i grew up with were simply fried in a pan and served with apple sauce and sugar. so, Mirjam, where in Germany do you live? and how are these kind of pancakes called in German? Curious, Wenke.
My boyfriend introduced these to me – his family makes them for breakfasts, for snacks, for staving off starvation in teenage boys…many uses, served with lemon juice, butter, and powdered sugar (alternately, sprinkled with shredded cheese). From what I saw, if you grease the pan before baking they should puff up quite nicely.
And just to add to the naming confusion, does anyone else call them Dutch Babies?
Do you have any full pictures of German Pancakes?????
I am getting weird characters in this recipe like:
2 9†cake pans
Do you have any idea what I need to do to translate these characters into
English??
Thanks.
These look delicious – they also happen to look a lot like this dish called “Dutch Baby” that one of my housemates used to make.
Yum! My Betty Crocker has a recipe similar to this, (read-almost exactly the same) only a blender is not required. Do you need one for this recipe?
There’s no reason you can just whisk the ingredients in a bowl, or with an electric mixer.
Any tips for making seven or eight of these at once for a birthday brunch? I was thinking maybe heavy cake pans/pie plates…
Do you put the softened butter in the batter, or just use it to butter the pans? Going to try a gluten-free version. They look lovely!
really nice, something to remember on my birthday
I made these this morning for a lazy Sunday breakfast for my wife and 2 boys–they loved them! I increased the recipe to 6 eggs, 1 cup of flour, 1 cup milk, some salt, sugar–and added some vanilla, which was the added something that made them terrific! Very custardy, even when fully baked. We topped them with my 8 yr old’s favorite fruit, fried apples. I also threw a handful of sliced apples in the bottom of the cast iron pan with the butter and some sugar, then topped the apple/butter/sugar layer with the pancake batter.
8 thumbs up at our house!
Can I just tell you how happy you made me! My mom DID make these all the time when I was growing up – and she made them from the same instruction booklet that came with her blender as well (and she always made them in the blender)! My mom would blend them up, pour them into the two pans and then put them in the refrigerator so that all she had to do in the morning was put them in the oven. Very fast, yummy breakfast that could even be eaten on school mornings. I’ve been looking for years for this recipe and have had some that came close, but just weren’t it. I could never remember the name of the blender to look up and see if the company had anything online. As soon as I saw your picture, I knew these were it. I’m so excited to make these; my birthday is this weekend and something tells me I will be having these on Sunday morning! (p.s. We alternated ours between powdered sugar and syrup – both are good.)
I’ve just found your website, so three years late on the comments. But just in case you see this: squeeze a bit of lemon on it as soon as it’s out of the oven (watch it deflate! Wheee!), douse it with maple syrup and then (this is the new bit) spoon on several spoonfuls of preserved lingonberries.
I have made theese several times and thry takes terrific!! Howcer they fall when I pull them out of the over. Any ideas on how to keep them light and fluffy?
I am not sure that pancakes like this stay loopy/wavy for long once baked.
Here is my attempt
=)
http://rubyspatula.blogspot.com/2009/04/bp-with-heart.html
I was just about to take a whirl with the America’s Test Kitchen pancakes, but I think I’ll give these a shot instead. My boyfriend isn’t really crazy about pancakes, so maybe he’ll like something a little different!
I’ve always known these as Dutch Babies too! By pure coincidence, I just happen to have made these for dinner tonight! My recipe is balanced a little differently, and I’ve never put sugar in them…I’ll have to try this recipe next time! When I was a kid we made these in a 13×9 pan, but I’ve taken to making them in a cast iron skillet. It doesn’t seem to create the loopy, curly top that makes for such a fun presentation, but it makes for a lovely bottom crust. I think I’ll go eat the last wedge now….
I made these last Sunday, and they were requested by my husband again today. Love them! The first time I made them they stuck to the pans, but I think that was my own fault for not buttering them well enough. This morning, I greased the pans really well, and I also lowered the heat, as I noticed last time they were a little too brown for my liking. Also, my oven runs a little bit hot, I think. I baked them for 22 minutes in a 350 oven, and they were absolute perfection. They actually looked like the ones in your picture! Thanks so much for the recipe, and I love your site!
I just love the “Surprise Me” link … which is how I came across these. Thanks, Deb. One more reason Smitten Kitchen is my favorite cooking site.
These look good. I’ve had a version at the Original Pancake House. Can you refrigerate the mixed batter for use the next day?
I made these about 3 months ago, after seeing them on your site. They were amazing! My S/O is coming over tomorrow, so I think I’ll make him these for breakfast saturday morning :D
I made these this am for a Sunday brunch with eggs and sausage. BIG HIT with the 16 yr olds and husband, learned- do NOT skimp on the butter-I did and mine stuck a bit. Also mine took less time, but i’m always checking with a convection oven- it seems to cook faster. Oh blueberry syrup for sure!
I just made these! They came out perfect and were so delicious! Thank you
I’m not a big fan of the pancake that we have here….I mean they are ok but I think the last time I had pancake was probably at least over a year or two ago? I really don’t miss them, but THESE babies…..they are one of my favorites and I think they’re also called Dutch babies (? Not sure with the German and Dutch have something in common here?!!!)
Thanks for this post and the beautiful pictures, as always!
My mom used to make this all the time in a pyrex pan in the oven. It was affectionately known as “the thing” because of the shape. I didn’t know it was called german pancake until my mom gave me a recipe book when I moved into my first apartment!
I just made these and I agree, the temp is too high. They don’t need the last 10 minutes. Next time I will try 20 minutes or so at 350. The kids loved them though.
Sounds great! I’ll try this recipe this weekend. I make a similar “Dutch Baby” recipe my husband’s aunt gave me. Changes in ingredients: No sugar, 1 cup each flour and milk, 1 tsp vanilla. 4 Tbls butter in 12″ Cast Iron Skillet [preheated (5 min) so butter melts] in 400 degree oven. Pour batter in hot pan and bake for 20 min. My husband asks for them almost every weekend. There’s a brandied cherry sauce available to accompany it; but with syrup, fresh fruit and whipped topping…..ummmm.
Made these this morning (a little pre-Thanksgiving gorging) and they were fantastic. Did one with plain with powdered sugar, and another with very thinly sliced apples on the bottom of the buttered pan and sprinkled sugar and cinnamon on top (2T and 1/8 t).
Also, due to the paranoia on here with cooking times, I cooked 7 mins at 400 and 23 mins at 350.
Making these again soon!
I noticed a few people were unclear about whether or not to add the butter to the mix, or just use it for the pans- that was my question, also. I only used the butter on the pans, and they turned out wonderful! I’m guessing that the butter is not put in the pancake batter itself.
The butter should go in the blender when it says “remaining ingredients”. The butter for buttering the pans isn’t listed in the ingredients… I always forget that.
I made this for breakfast today, and it was ridiculously easy and delicious! For some reason it stuck to the pan (I think I didn’t butter the pan enough, or maybe it was that I used margarine instead of butter…), but it tasted fine all the same!
My father is totally excited, as we have a restaurant in Chicago – Walker Brothers’ Pancake House – where he always gets german pancakes. Or dutch babies like others have mentioned. He couldn’t believe it was so simple to make!
These were great! I made them exactly as the recipe instructed, and I topped them off with powdered sugar, a spritz of lemon juice, fig preserves, toasted walnuts, and honey. Yum! Thanks so much for sharing.
So i was very excited about making them but then they turned out rubbery. I’m not sure if it was because I baked them in a glass dish, but I ended up having to toss them. Do you have any idea about what went wrong?
Mine ended up flat and kind of rubbery as well. Not sure what I did wrong! Still tasted okay but hmmm…
The taste was very good but mine were thinner and not as poufy as your pictures. I baked them a little longer to get them golden and hoping they would pouf more but no luck. They tasted good with maple syrup even though they were not as lovely as desired.