I seldom go back and make recipes from my old books, because I am too busy creating new ones for classes. For me, the fun of cooking is in creating, not repeating.
But when my facebook friend, Michelle Shefter, whose dad owned Kitchen Bazaar stores in the DC area back in the 70’s and 80’s where I used to teach, showed a picture of this apple pancake from my first book, Cookery for Entertaining, on FB, i had to make it. (Whew that was one, long run-on sentence.) I even went through all my serving pieces and dug out the quiche dish that I made the pancake in when I styled the the photo in the book. (BTW the book was published in 1976 and is on Amazon today for $56.) I am proud to say that my books are selling so well used that I have been contacted by a publisher to to publish them digitally. More on that to come.
To say the pancake held up is an understatement. It is a true winner. The only change I made was to reduce the butter from 8 tablespoons to 6. You do not need a quiche dish to make this. A 9 x 13-inch casserole works fine.
I know many of you have made this pancake. I’d love to hear from you. There is room for lots of comments below.
If you haven’t made it yet, go for it. It’s one of the reasons that the cookbook has sold over 1 million copies. I am very proud of that little paperback and that it’s stood the test of time.
Apple Puffed Pancake
6 tablespoons butter
6 large eggs
1 1/2 cups whole or low-fat milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 apples, peeled and thinly sliced (red or green will work)
2 to 3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
Arrange rack in center of oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Put butter into a 12-inch quiche dish or a 9x13-inch baking dish. Put it into the oven while it preheats until the butter sizzles. Do not let it brown.
In a food processor, blender or large bowl, mix eggs, milk, flour, sugar, vanilla, salt and cinnamon until blended. If using a mixer, the batter will remain lumpy.
Remove baking dish from the oven and add apple slices. Return to oven until butter sizzles. It’s OK if the butter browns a little.
Remove dish from oven and immediately pour batter over apples. Sprinkle with brown sugar.
Bake for 20 minutes or until puffed and brown. Serve immediately. It will fall as it cools.
Servings: The original recipe says serves 6 to 8. Karl and I ate half for breakfast and the other half for dinner. So you decide how many it serves. I say 4.
