Dutch Baby

If there’s one thing I love about weekends (…there are many things, obviously, but here’s one for free) it’s brunch.  Bungle’s waking up before 6am most mornings at the moment, so during the week I get up and walk him, while Sunny gets ready for work.  We always eat breakfast together but it’s rushed and we’re both far too dog-tired (I’m starting to understand the origin of that phrase…) to care what we quickly swallow down before the day gets going.

But on the weekend?  Oh the weekend!  We take it in turns to have a lie in and then once we’re both up, we eat a fancy brunch.  No half burnt toast or lukewarm porridge… nope, we celebrate the weekend with something a bit special – whether that’s pancakes, a full English, or pink poached eggs… or, a new fave of mine: Dutch Babies.

Not babies wearing clogs, let’s call these what they really are, and what they are is basically a massive, sweet Yorkshire Pudding.  It’s what happens when you pour pancake batter into a hot skillet, and instead of frying, you bake it in the oven for thirty minutes.  It goes golden brown, the edges puff up and and go crispy and create a bowl for whatever filling you fancy!  And, they’re really easy to make; you can whip up the batter the night before and there’s nothing technical to worry about.  Perfect for lazy weekends 🙂

Dutch Baby (makes two mini babies, or one big baby 😉)

Ingredients

• 200ml Milk
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Tbsp Caster Sugar
• 70g Plain Flour
• A little butter for greasing
• Filling of choice: I used grilled nectarines, strawberries, shaved coconut and a bit of cream
• A little icing sugar for dusting

1. In a measuring jug, whisk together the milk, eggs and sugar.  Gradually add the flour, ensuring the mixture is smooth and without any lumps or bumps.
2. Leave the mixture in the fridge overnight or for an hour.  Then, when you’re ready to cook, stir and allow it to warm to room temperature.
3. Set the oven to 220°, putting your skillet or heatproof dish inside to heat up with it.  Once both have heated up, remove the skillet/dish from the oven and grease with butter.  Pour in the batter, then bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
4. After twenty minutes, the sides should have puffed up and turned golden brown.  Turn down the temperature to 160°, and bake for a further 10 minutes whilst you prepare your filling of choice!
5. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.  Yum!

Have a great weekend everyone!  (Hopefully we’ve finally seen the back of Spring-ter…) 🙂