Heather's Bytes

One of our favorite Saturday morning breakfasts is German pancakes. I’ve seen them called a lot of different things — Dutch babies, puff pancakes, etc., but I grew up calling them German pancakes so that’s what they are here! The kids still love standing at the oven to watch them rise and still get a kick over how big they get.

They’re very easy to make: 4 eggs beaten well, add one cup of milk, and then one cup of flour. You can add a tablespoon of sugar and a dash of vanilla for a little sweetness, or if you’re going to put something sweet over them already (syrup, fruit sauce, powdered sugar, etc) you can leave that out.

Put half a stick of butter in a 9×13 casserole dish and put it in the oven while the oven warms to 350 so that the butter melts. When it’s completely melted and the oven has reached temperature, pour the batter in and cook for 20-25 minutes (mine come out perfectly at 23 minutes).

I’ve tried mixing it two different ways, with a whisk and with an electric beater and the pancakes I’ve made with a beater always stay flat, but the ones I’ve just mixed with the whisk always rise like crazy. I’ve seen Alton make his in a blender and beat the heck out of it, but mine don’t like that for some reason so a gentle mix with a whisk works best in my experience.

I made this for the twins’ birthday breakfast this year and it was a huge hit. Cream cheese, cinnamon, pecans, gooey sauce, what could beat that?

Surprise Pull Apart Bread

1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 (1 stick) melted butter
1/3 c maple syrup
1 tube (14 oz) refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
1/2 c sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese

Sprinkle pecans into a greased 10-inch bundt cake pan. In a small bowl, mix 2 Tb butter and maple syrup until well blended, pour over pecans in pan. Set aside.

Separate biscuits and cut in half (create a half circle). Then cut in half horizontally (slice through the center to get two half circles) – you should have about 32 pieces. Flatten each cut biscuits a bit with your fingers. Place remaining melted butter in a shallow bowl. In another shallow bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon.

Cut cream cheese into 32 cubes and roll in sugar mixture. Place one cube in center of each piece of dough, and fold up dough around cream cheese to seal tightly. Dip one side of each biscuit in the butter, than in the sugar mixture. Place in bundt pan sugar-side up.

Pour remaining butter over top and sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Invert onto a serving platter and serve warm.

cream cheese surprise!