Dutch Baby with Warm Strawberry Syrup
I love it when food reminds me of someone I adore. Like if I make or enjoy something really specific, my mind immediately goes to a memory of that person, and I feel like this happens not super often, but when it does it just brings back a sweet memory. When I think about pasta + red sauce, I think about my grandma. When I think about taco night, I think about my mom. When I think about a classic Dutch baby, I think about my dear friend Lana. Even just the mention of a Dutch baby sends me to the memory of her making breakfast for a big group of our friends that while we all vacationed together over New Years forever ago. We all piled into a cabin in the mountains in AZ, and got ourselves a really cozy few snow days in the woods. It was also the trip where Jordan I shared a room with bunkbeds - an iconic moment in our time together. Anyways, during a trip where the plan was to party in the woods over New Years, Lana was adamant about her German pancakes for us one morning. It was one of the few real plans we had going into this trip, and I’m pretty sure we were all so grateful to her for literally saving all of us from the misery of our New Years hangover with these pancakes. I can so vividly remember waking up, climbing down from my bunkbed, and opening the door to the kitchen to see her taking full control of the breakfast situation. Her Josh right by her side, helping her with the whole endeavor, but there was no doubt she was the boss in the situation. She did it all in her Winter comfies, glasses on, whipping up batter + cranking out the funnest pancake situation I’d ever seen. This was my first experience with a German pancake, and I loved it! A big, warm, pillowy pancake that we all kind of dove into - cutting up this giant pancake and sharing it between plates. I remember it having that really good “right out of the oven” warm pancake vibe and we topped it with butter + slathered with maple syrup. It just felt like such a treat. Fast forward about 10 years + seeing Dutch baby recipes in blogs and all over Instagram, and every time I see a recipe or mention of one I can’t help but think of Lana & this trip to the woods. Now rewind to a couple of weeks ago where pancakes were sounding real good, I decided to make my own. My first ever Dutch baby at-home, and it was a Dutch Baby with Warm Strawberry Syrup. Perfect for a fun Friday bunch. Perfect for a little late morning treat. And the perfect pancake situation for a party of two.
One big ol’ pancake
What is there to really say about a Dutch baby other than they’re just so good? It kind of stops + starts there. Eggy + fluffy + just different than the typical pancake, but in a really good way. Obviously, you’re swapping a bunch of small pancakes (and the hassle of having to whip up batter and keep the skillet going while you get through all the individual pancakes) and you get just one giant Dutch baby. I am not ashamed to say we quite nearly polished off the entire thing at our house between just us two. And hot-take - having one huge pancake the enjoy right out of the skillet is kind of the supreme way to do it. We were happy as clams cutting our Dutch baby right out of the hot skillet - enjoying it warm + ready.
Keep it easy
They’re just so fun to make. And easy to make! You whip up the batter, throw it in the oven, and you get this huge, pillowy pancake that’s golden brown + ready to be topped with something sweet. It was like this fun mystery waiting for it to cook. Like what is going to look like when you crack open the oven door + get that bad boy out of there? Every recipe is adamant about keeping that oven door closed, which was a rule I abided by. And it was just anticipation to see how it would turn out. Perfectly imperfect is how I’d describe it. Perfectly golden brown, naturally curving up the skillet as it bakes, and a few random air bubbles right when you took it out. It smelled so so good + just looked like something you wanted to eat.
Just enough of the sweet stuff
This was something I made totally selfishly to satisfy that sweet tooth craving. I can never commit to ordering pancakes. Very rarely, we’ll order one to as breakfast share plate when we have a bigger group - just enough so everyone can get a small sliver of something to top with maple syrup. It’s really the sweet toppings that do it for me! For sure butter + maple syrup would have been delish here at home, but I swapped the regular go to for my warm strawberry jam. Maybe it’s a strawberry syrup because I did sweeten it up with the smallest amount of maple syrup? Regardless, it was great! And the perfect use for the big crate of strawberries burning a hole in my fridge. My local grocery store feels like a make shift farmers market and they legitimately have the best produce in Tacoma 24/7, and right now the big boxes of sweet, juicy strawberries are the thing I can’t resist. I cut up the ones still sitting in the fridge (the ones I was probably not going to be able to finish before they turned), tossed them with the smallest amount of maple syrup, and made my own strawberry syrup to throw on top. It was everything! Made the house smell like sweet jam and it was everything I needed to satisfy the craving for a breakfast on the sweeter side.
So delicious. So fun to make. Such a fun shake up to our usual Friday routine! I loved being able to send a text to my friend to show off my homemade Dutch baby + let her know I thought of her the entire time.
For the strawberry syrup
4 c. chopped strawberries
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp water
lemon zest (for garnish)
For the Dutch baby
3 tbsp butter
4 eggs
2/3 c. almond milk
2/3 c. flour
pinch of salt
2 tsp vanilla
Start by making the strawberry syrup. Add all of the syrup ingredients to a saucepan + stir them together. Place the saucepan over medium heat + bring the syrup to a simmer. Let the syrup simmer for 5-7 minutes, stirring regularly, and then reduce the heat to low. Keep the syrup over low heat for at least 15 minutes, stirring every few minutes.
Now move to making the Dutch baby. Preheat the oven to 450. Place a large cast iron skillet over low heat + add the butter. In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer to mix together the eggs, almond milk, flour, salt, and vanilla. Mix it together until the batter is light + there are no clumps. Take one tablespoon of the melted butter from the skillet + mix into the batter - streaming the butter into the batter slowly and mixing it the whole time. Remove the skillet from the heat and swirl the remaining butter to coat the bottom of the skillet. Take the batter + pour it into the hot pan, then place the pan directly into the oven. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
Remove the Dutch baby from the oven. It should be golden brown, bubbly, and totally cooked. Immediately top the Dutch baby with the warm strawberry sauce + sprinkle with lemon zest. Cut it up + divide it between plates while it’s still warm + toasty. Dive in and enjoy every bite.