I don’t often write about my cooking, especially with two friends that have completed culinary programs and do amazing things in the kitchen. But I am so pleased with my dessert for New Year’s Eve dinner that I can’t resist.
I expect that I have made this pancake at least 100 times. Sometimes with apples, sometimes with pears (or apples and pears), sometimes with blueberries and strawberries. Most often for breakfast and very occasionally as a dessert. The pancake batter is simple: 3 eggs, 3/4 c milk and 3/4 c flour and 2 T of sugar. After melting a couple of tablespoons of butter in a cast iron pan, add the batter, then bake for 15 minutes at 425 and 10 more minutes at 350. A common past frustration is that about ten minutes into things, bubbles will form and I have to keep poking holes with a fork to keep my pancake from becoming a very odd souffle. And despite my cast iron pan being pretty well seasoned, there are occasional sticking problems. This often requires me to curse.
We are in Whistler. I had never made it here. Partly because until two years ago we had no cast iron in the kitchen. But just before my trip to Creekside Grocery, inspiration struck, and I added apples to my shopping list.
My key decision…at least I think it led to the excellent result…was to use convection baking, always a feature of our oven here. (I’m excited to get back to Seattle and try this there in our new oven, hoping for the same result.) So 15 minutes at 400, 10 minutes at 325. No bubbles. Fully detached from the pan. Sautéed the apples in butter, added some sugar. “Poetry on a plate”
The pancake after baking...
\Prepping the apples
Ready for dessert!
Happy New Year!
Stance and Balance 
Wow, Russ! Looks delicious, nice work.
That sounds like breakfast for the kids on their first day of school in 2012. Thanks, Russ!
Annie and I cooked it this morning. Convection worked great at Seattle hilltop elevation. No bubbles! And we accidentally found that dropping apples into batter once in pan works alright and saves a bit of time (and a pan to clean). The apple chunks softened adequately through baking. Kids got to sprinkle on some sugar or maple syrup and were gleeful!