Puffed Apple Pancake
Really more of a soufflé than a pancake, this delicious airy concoction is easy to make and a great way to use up apples that have lost their edge, as it were. Since it bakes in a single pan, there is no waiting around for batches of pancakes. I have used sweeter apples (your Delicious, your Fuji, etc.), but it would work equally well, I think, with a tarter apple.
Puffed Apple Pancake
1 cup whole milk
4 large eggs
3 T sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/8 tsp baking powder
4 T (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
2 apples, peeled, cored, thinly sliced
3 T (packed) golden brown sugar (optional)
Powdered sugar (optional)
Preheat oven to 425°. Whisk milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon in large bowl until well blended. Add flour and baking powder, and whisk until batter is smooth. Place butter in 13 x 9-inch glass baking dish (the picture above is a little “overflow” pancake I made with the extra batter left when I had only a 7 x 11 pan on hand). Place dish in oven until butter melts, about 5 minutes. Remove dish from oven. Put apples in pan and toss to coat with butter, then arrange them evenly across the bottom of the pan. Return to oven and bake until apples begin to soften slightly and butter is bubbling and beginning to brown around edges of dish, about 10 minutes. Pour batter over apples in dish and sprinkle with brown sugar, if desired. Bake pancake until puffed and brown, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired. Serve immediately (pancake will begn to fall as it cools, so it presents best right out of the oven). Serves 4 hungry or 8 abstemious people.