lemon sugar dutch baby with bourbon strawberries
Happy Friday, nerds! Join me for brunch?
The discovery of this Dutch baby was earth-shattering for me. It is the pinnacle of simple, elegant brunches: impressive for anyone but secretly minimal effort, not even your picky-ass mother in law would know. So if you have a picky-ass mother in law to feed this weekend, or any upcoming, this is your recipe.
I baked up this Dutch baby during one of our final Big Sur training weeks (along with a tart I’ll be sharing soon enough!) and even for a person wiped out by a 21 mile run, I had plenty of energy for its creation. It really is that effortless, ya’ll.
Sometimes I’m not in the mood to make a full batch of pancakes, but crave the puffy, carby treat regardless. The Dutch baby is your shortcut to pancakes without the flipping and flopping and possible sticking if you fail to grease your pan. Grease your pans, dudes.
Intimidated? Don’t be. I’ll walk you through it.
Hot, Hot, Hot
First VERY important step to a solid Dutch baby: a hot skillet. A hot hot hot skillet.
How do you achieve this? Preheat the oven with the skillet inside. Preferably, give it at least 30 minutes, but if you only have the amount of time that’s generally needed to preheat an oven (probably 10-15 for most), that’s fine.
While the oven preheats, start the strawberries to maximize marinating time. I feel weird describing fruits as “marinating” for some reason. Just a me quirk. Coat the berries with a touch of bourbon and lemon sugar – simply sugar and lemon zest sifted together. They are divine. May I suggest topping ice cream with a few later on in the day?
The Batter on Deck
The batter for a Dutch baby isn’t much different than normal pancake batter, except the use of more eggs and you don’t want lumps once its mixed up. Pancake batter benefits from large chunks, but in here, they would only disrupt the air bubbles and prevent the baby from blowing up. That sounded inappropriate.
Whip the batter up with a stand or hand mixer for a few minutes, really working those chunks out. If you do it by hand, it’ll take awhile and you’ll have jacked forearms, but its definitely possible.
Remove the skillet from the oven and immediately plop in a couple tablespoons of butter. The pan will immediately melt and brown the butter, which is just what you need. Pour in the batter, top with a few strawberries, and bake.
Next VERY important note: do not open the oven door. Those first 15 minutes are crucial for creating those giant air pockets. Disrupt the heating, and the pancake will deflate and lose its airy texture. You can take a peak after 15 minutes to see if you want a bit more browning – I wouldn’t exceed 20 minutes unless your oven is spotty – but before that? Do not. Alarm bells will sound.
I topped my portion(s) of the Dutch baby with syrup and more strawberries. Powdered sugar, whipped cream, even melted chocolate, no, white chocolate, are great too for some extra indulgence. Those strawberries are ridiculous, dudes. A cocktail embedded in a fresh fruit, really.
Tried this recipe out? Leave a comment below with your thoughts, and don’t forget to come say hi on Instagram and show me what you made!
lemon sugar dutch baby with bourbon strawberries
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, halved
- 1 tbsp bourbon or whiskey
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 4 eggs, at room temperature
- 4 tbsp butter
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
Instructions
- Insert a cast iron skillet into the oven and preheat to 450 degrees.
- Toss the sugar with the lemon zest. In a small bowl, combine the strawberries, 2 tablespoons of lemon sugar, and the bourbon. Let sit at room temperature.
- Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter. In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, melted butter, flour, milk, vanilla, and salt until no large clumps remain and the batter is very smooth, about 1-2 minutes.
- Remove the skillet from the oven and toss in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Swirl around the bottom of the pan until melted and slightly browned, about 2-3 minutes. Pour the batter into the hot skillet. Top with 1/2 cup of berries and the remaining lemon sugar. Bake for 15-20 minutes until puffed and golden. DO NOT open the oven during the first 15 minutes or the pancake will deflate. Serve warm with the remaining strawberries, powdered sugar, and maple syrup, as desired.
