Dutch Baby Kind of Morning

We thoroughly enjoy a good lazy weekend morning around here. Putting This American Life on the radio and brewing up a big pot of coffee is one of our favorite things to do. Now we have something else to add to our Sunday mornings- a huge Dutch baby pancake. I’m just going to wait while you Google that, if you’ve never had one before.

When you pull one out of the oven, it’s usually a giant bubble of melted butter, and smells like heaven. As it cools down, it becomes very flat in the middle, and covering it with lemon juice and powdered sugar gives it just the right amount of tart sweetness. There seemed to be several people making them last weekend, and covering them with caramelized apples, lemon curd, and fruit compotes. I still think they’re best just as they are, but I wouldn’t mind trying the apples sometime soon.

There are lots of different recipes for these online. Some include nutmeg, cinnamon, or sugar baked into the pancake itself. My friend Megan was kind enough to share her personal recipe with me though, and I love the way hers cook up in a cast-iron pan.

Only one thing can make me feel guilty when eating all of this butter and lemony sugary goodness though, and that’s poor Dax, stuck in a corner of the living room in a crate. Sorry for the yellowness of this iPhone photo, but I had to get at least one picture of his Cone of Shame face:

Remember way back when he had knee surgery? Well, he had to go thru a bit more to get things just right. While they were in there fixing his meniscus they  removed his bone plate from the first surgery and then gave it to me. I don’t have a clue what I’m supposed to do with it. Meanwhile, do you know how hard it is to keep a very active corgi immobile for weeks at a time? Let’s just say I’m not the only one who’s going to be gaining weight from all the treats around here!