German Apple Pancake

A few weeks ago I was craving apple pie. Not the process, the result. So I went to the store and bought some Pillsbury crust and a ton of apples. I can never remember how many it takes.

The pie was perfect and hit the spot on the bull's eye. But I ended up with a few too many apples and was wondering what to do with them. Then I remembered a recipe for German Apple Pancake from my sister-in-law Michelle that I had never tried. So I whipped out my copy of Support Your Local Stovetop and made Sunday morning breakfast.

The recipe requires a 10-inch ovenproof skillet. I only have a 12-inch so I used that, and it made the dish a bit spread out so when we overturned it to the platter it kind of fell apart. But we really didn't care because it was about to be gobbled up in the next 5 seconds as soon as I took a picture. And it tasted sooo good!Next week we're going apple picking and doing Apple Day at Peewee School. I have about five new apple recipes lined up to try so this is the first of a kind of unofficial Apple Month here on the VGP. Hopefully some will actually be good enough to post - stay tuned!

German Apple Pancake

½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 T granulated sugar
½ tsp table salt
2 large eggs
⅔ cup half-and-half
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 T unsalted butter
1¼ pounds Granny Smith apples (if you like tart) or Braeburn apples (if you like sweet) (3 to 4 large apples), peeled, quartered, cored, and cut into ½-inch-thick slices
¼ cup light brown sugar or dark brown sugar
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp lemon juice
Confectioners' sugar for dusting

1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position; heat oven to 500°F (425°F if using a cast iron skillet.)

2. Whisk to combine flour, granulated sugar, and salt in medium bowl. In second medium bowl, whisk eggs, half-and-half, and vanilla until combined. Add liquid ingredients to dry and whisk until no lumps remain, about 20 seconds; set batter aside.

3. Heat butter in 10-inch ovenproof nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until sizzling. Add apples, brown sugar, and cinnamon; cook, stirring frequently with heatproof rubber spatula, until apples are golden brown, about 10 minutes (if using a cast iron skillet, cook them only until just barely golden, about 6 minutes.) Off heat, stir in lemon juice.

4. Working quickly, pour batter around and over apples. Place skillet in oven and immediately reduce oven temperature to 425°F; bake until pancake edges are brown and puffy and have risen above edges of skillet, about 18 minutes.

5. Using oven mitts to protect hands, remove hot skillet from oven and loosen pancake edges with heatproof rubber spatula; invert pancake onto serving platter. Dust with confectioners' sugar and cut into wedges. To serve, dust the apple pancake with confectioners' sugar and pass warm maple syrup or caramel sauce separately, if desired.