Finnish Oven Pancake With Sauteed Apples
This recipe was recommended to me by my lovely friend Leila, who has convinced her guests that she is a domestic goddess by prepping the batter at night and baking the pancake in the morning. It is definitely one of those foods that comes off as far more difficult and impressive to make than it actually is, so keep this one in mind when thinking of brunch ideas for guests.
While there are many versions of this recipe floating around, I can’t imagine that it could possibly get any better than this one, reprinted with permission from the Foodie With Family website. While you are waiting for this to finish baking, head over to the fabulous Rebecca Lindamoo’s website and peruse all of the delicious recipes and great household tips she’s got stashed on there.
http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2010/12/02/finnish-oven-pancakes-pannukakku/
Without further ado, Finnish Oven Pancake With Sauteed Apples…
Ingredients for Pancake:
- 4 Tablespoons (1/2 of one stick) butter, cut into three or four pieces
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup milk, preferably whole milk
- 1 pinch of salt
- up to 4 Tablespoons sugar, optional
- splash of vanilla extract, optional
Ingredients for sauteed apples
- 3 Macintosh apples, peeled and diced, then lightly squirted with lemon juice
- 4 tablespoons of butter
- 1/4-1/2 cup of brown sugar depending on how sweet you want it
- Pinch of cinnamon
Baking With Babies Tip: Pre-measure and present each ingredient in its own separate vessel. Coffee cups work well because of the large handle, but I’m hoping to find something that isn’t breakable to use instead.
Preheat oven to 400°F. When the oven temperature reaches about 300°F, place an 8- or 9-inch cake pan or 10-inch pie plate in the oven with the butter in it. The butter should melt, but not brown, while the oven finishes heating.
This was her favorite part. She spent awhile organizing the butter, so we didn’t get it into the oven at 300F as recommended, but it still worked fine.
Place the eggs, f lour, milk, salt, sugar and vanilla (if using) in the carafe of a blender. Fix the cover in place and blend on high, stopping to scrape down the sides if necessary, until the mixture is smooth and even (we used a mixer and it worked fine.)
While she has gotten very good at adding the ingredients as directed, I still help her to pour so that we don’t have shards of broken glass in the batter!
Baking With Babies Tip: Use the electric mixer whenever possible. This eliminates the power struggle over the mixing spoon. Also, my little baking buddy finds this machine fascinating!
When the oven is fully heated, and the butter is fully melted, pull the oven rack out far enough to work safely and pour the batter into the hot pan. Push the rack carefully back into the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the oven pancake has puffed quite high and is a deep golden brown. You can test the doneness by quickly inserting a butter knife in the center of the oven pancake. If the knife comes out clean, the pancake is done. Remove the pan from the oven.
To make the sauteed apples, melt butter in a non stick sauce pan. Add apples, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until apples are soft and liquid is bubbling.
Believe it or not, she is actually pretty careful and understands “hot” but if your child doesn’t, please don’t let them help with this step!
Pour apples over pancake, or just shovel them into your mouth. Both ways taste pretty darn good.
The taste test verdict….clean plate club in two minutes, and a second helping requested. I guess that equals 5 stars!
- My husband and I liked it too, so this isn’t just a kid dessert. In fact, it is a surprisingly mature taste for a kid to like, but I bet yours will like it too!
