Sisters, Breakfast and Refined Carbohydrates

You may or may not already know that I learned my passion for food & my skills in the kitchen from two very important women: my mother and my sister. Someday I will post a recipe of my mother’s, but today I want to share one that my sister taught me long ago when I was temporarily living with her and her husband in Virginia. Today my sister is studying dietary nutrition and would gasp (in fact, I’m hopeful that this very post will incite a scathing comment – stay tuned) at the ingredients in this breakfast treat, but it has remained one of my occasional Saturday morning indulgences despite the high concentration of refined carbohydrates.

You only need 5 ingredients to make German Puff Pancakes, all of which are standard kitchen staples, plus it takes less than 20 minutes start to finish, so it’s perfect for spur of the moment urges. You do need a pan that can go from stove to oven, such as a cast iron skillet (or check out my Calphalon in the pics). To be honest, if you don’t already have a pan like this, just go get one, its amazingly useful.

There are only two tricky things about this recipe; the first is coating the sides of the pan with melted butter. Tilt the pan so that the butter pools on one side and slowly keep tilting until the butter is right on the edge of the pan. Then gradually rotate the pan around so that the entire pan in coated. This allows the batter to creep up the sides of the pan when it’s baking. This step is a little scary the first time, especially if you are hovering over an open gas flame as I usually am, but after you’ve done it once you will be ready to show off this move for an audience. Trust me on this, they will be impressed and you will feel like a professional.

The second tricky part is pulling this gorgeous thing out of the oven. Try not to ruin the awe of your audience by grabbing the blazing hot handle with your bare hand. In my years of making these I have only done it twice, but your hand (and your ego) sting pretty bad.

As long as you’ve got those things down, you’ll come out with a quick, impressive and hopefully pain-free breakfast for you and a friend or two. Everyone has their own preferences, but (much to my sister's nutritional dismay) my favorite toppings are powdered sugar and a squeeze of lemon, or just a sprinkle of cinnamon & sugar.