A new Easter Tradition (aka Dutch Baby Recipe)


I've made up an Easter tradition for our family, and thought I'd share the recipe

As I was reading Mere-O (you've added it to your RSS feeds by now, yes? good) this morning, I came across this post on Feasting and Fasting. Tex makes reference to "the simple yet monumental achievement of a Dutch baby browning in the oven." Which caused me to ask - what the heck is a Dutch baby? and is it the delectable looking thing he has pictured in the post?

Armed with the vast wealth of wiki/google/etc, I soon discovered that a Dutch Baby (also known as a German Pancake) is a yorkshire pudding-like confection that is sort of like a sweetened pancake/souffle that falls down in the middle. They traditionally come covered with a bit of lemon juice and dusted in powdered sugar, but the deflated middle also plays a nice host to fruits or other stuff.

Needless to say, I was very intrigued to try one of these things. So I went out and found a couple of good recipes and decided to throw my own together. As I began thinking about this, with Tex's observations on fasting and feasting rattling around in my head, it dawned on me that this might be a perfect Easter Sunday tradition. I have been looking for something to make Easter truly special for my kids - something that they will remember fondly the way we all remember Christmas.

Easter doesn't get the kind of fondness it deserves - it truly is the greatest thing we can possibly celebrate. Not only has Christ come to Earth and took on our flesh (which is what make Christmas so great), but He did so that He might die for our sins. And not only that, He rose from the dead on the third day to proclaim that even death, the very power of sin, had been utterly destroyed. Easter is the day we celebrate that nothing, NOTHING, will be able to restrain the grace of our God in redeeming us for all eternity. Shouldn't Easter get better traditions than anything else then?

Dutch Baby's are fun for kids to watch because they puff up all big before falling down, and they sound unrestrainedly sweet. I'm hoping this can be one of many traditions we can start with our kids to remind them of the wonderful joy of Easter and to help them look forward to a time when we will truly feast in a way befitting the joy of Easter.


Dutch Baby Recipe (w/ Marinated Berries)

Consider this a sort of mashup between Orangette's recipe and the Food Network recipe. I took a little bit from each to make this (though the berry sauce is taken as-is from Food Network. First things first, start by making the marinated berries:

Marinated Berries

2 tablespoons sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, and seeds scraped out with a knife and reserved
Grated zest of 1/2 lemon
Grated zest of 1/2 orange
1 cup water
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 pint raspberries
1/2 pint blueberries, rinsed
1/2 pint strawberries, rinsed, tops trimmed, halved or quartered, if large

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, vanilla bean and seeds, citrus zests, and water. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to low. Simmer very gently until syrupy, about 25 minutes. (Note: now would be a good time to pull out the ingredients for the Dutch Baby, to allow them to get to room temp.) Remove from the heat and add the citrus juices. Combine the berries in a bowl. Strain the warm syrup over the berries and marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes.

While that is marinating, you can throw the Dutch baby in the oven. First off, preheat the oven to 425º.

Dutch Baby

1 stick unsalted butter
4 eggs
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup All-purpose flour
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Put the stick of butter into a cast iron skillet (10") and melt over low heat. Mix up all the rest of the ingredients in a blender (I add the cream eggs and vanilla first, then add the sugar and then the flour - but not everyone is as OCD as me. I'm sure you could probably throw it all in there and go). Brush the butter up the sides of the cast iron skillet, then pour in the batter from the blender. Throw it into the over and cook it at 425º for 25 minutes. But watch it - mine started getting a bit black around the edges at 25 min (Next year I may try Food Network's cooking instruction - drop to 350º after 10 minutes).

Remove from the oven, dust with a ton of powdered sugar, add the marinated berries, then praise God for food. Seriously, that last step will make it taste much better when you realize that life could be sustained by the runny goo they had in the Matrix - but to you, God has given the wonderful enjoyment of food. And sweeter still, He has given us Easter - the resurrected Son proclaiming forgiveness; our sin is no more, death has no power, He is risen indeed!

Posted: Sun - March 23, 2008 at 07:10 AM | | | | | | |

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