Sunday, May 3, 2009

Dutch babies


We have been nursing a gravely ill beloved pet cat at home here this weekend. This morning she looked a tiny bit better, so I took a little break and decided to bake something sweet with the fruit I had on hand.
I looked through some of my old bread books from years ago, and found an interesting recipe to try from my old Sunset publishing book on Breads (originally published in 1963, this was the 1996 edition). The recipe was called Strawberry Dutch Baby. What an odd name, and with no explanation!- I can only guess that it might be because they can be baked in cast iron 'Dutch ovens'? It's a sort of crepe that you bake in the oven and it puffs into a bowl shape which you then fill with fruit and fruit syrup.

I had a couple of old cast iron skillets that would work well- the recipe makes two 'babies'. I had some dried apricots and fresh strawberries and blackberries on hand.
I had to run to the neighbors to get some confectioner's sugar in the end though- just wouldn't seem complete without the snowy confectioner's sprinkle.
I was very pleased with the outcome, and I was amazed at how the batter puffed up and formed a bowl all by itself in the hot buttered cast iron skillets while baking in the oven. The batter was easy- only flour, milk, eggs, and a touch of sugar. The 'Dutch babies' certainly do make a beautiful presentation in their skillets.

3 comments:

  1. Lisa, we've got to stop doing things together a thousand miles apart! I made a Dutch Baby Sunday morning too. I always use Alton Brown's Good Eats recipe. Yours looks really nice! I filled mine with leftover cinnamon stewed apples.

    Best post a recipe before madscot13 starts starving!

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  2. Hi Ken- how weird that we both made the same thing on Sunday! Especially since I had never made it before and was using a 20 year old book I dug out!
    =8-O

    Hey Madscott, send me your email and I'll send you the recipe. :)

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