German Pancake

Wow, this was a surprise hit at my breakfast table recently. It is soooo bad for you but it tastes soooo good! This is called a pancake, but in texture, it's more like a cream puff with bacon. I served this with a generous amount of syrup and both Sweetie-Pi and I were well satisfied. This kind of breakfast reminds me of long wooden tables and benches filled with guests and family members who are filled with anticipatory delight. I can almost hear the echoes of their laughter and conversations...

Look how nicely the baked batter rises up the side of the baking dish, just cuddling up all that eggy goodness and wonderful bacon (and gulp! bacon FAT!) . I think it would take a month of oatmeal to clean your arteries of all the fat and cholesterol in just a single serving of this.

Nevertheless, we liked this so much I am going to make this again. However, I think I'm going to lightly cook the bacon beforehand to try and reduce the amount of fat. Also, the bacon did not cook as crisp as I would have liked, and I think a little precooking would help to solve that. Turkey bacon might be a good substitute here, but if I had it, I'd have to hide it so Ole Sweetie-Pi wouldn't know what I was up to. He thinks he does not like turkey bacon. While I definitely think the bacon fat really add to the flavor of this, I just don't believe we need all the fat from six slices of bacon in order for this to be delicious.

German Pancake
(Adapted from Marcia Adams' Heirloom Recipes)

4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk, at room temperature, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
6 strips of bacon or turkey bacon
Maple syrup or fruit topping of choice

Preheat your oven to 375F. Grease and set aside an 8-inch square baking dish.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs thoroughly, add 1/2 cup of the milk and the vanilla. Beat in the flour and salt and then, lastly, the remaining 1/2 cup of milk.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and place the bacon on top of the batter.

Bake for 45 to 60 minutes or until the top is golden brown and puffy. Cut into serving pieces and serve immediately with your favorite syrup or fruit topping.

Oh so good!

Sourdough Waffles & Blueberry Sauce

Until these so-light, they-almost-float-off-your-plate sourdough waffles, I have never had good luck with sourdough anything. The minute I saw these on Coleen's Recipes blog though, I just I just had to try again. I had been craving waffles for breakfast, so I took this as an omen.

Excuse me if I speak while my mouth is full, but I must say, "Oh my!" Light, airy, crunchy, slightly tangy, good! Ole Sweetie-Pi, who never eats eats a whole waffle, ate an entire one in record time and declared that we must have this again.

Grins. My waffles are a bit overdone, (Coleen's are far more gorgeous!), but I was hoping to capture the crispy goodness of these. Check our her pictures for a better idea.

Now I just have one addendum to Coleen's excellent instructions. What I didn't consider is that the batter would rise like the sun at dawn. It started to spill out of my pitcher and onto the counter. Fortunately, I was standing in the kitchen when it was just undulating over the sides and I was able to throw the batter into a much larger bowl. The batter does stop rising after a bit, but plan on having a container maybe three to four sizes larger than your starter.

I had some frozen blueberries in the freezer and decided to make wonderful, full of rich blueberry flavor sauce. I declare, this tasted blueberrier than fresh blueberries!

Blueberry Sauce

In a small saucepan, combine 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, a good pinch of ground nutmeg and a dash of salt. (That equates to about an 1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg and even less than that for the salt.)

Stir in 1/2 cup of boiling water; cook and stir until bubbly, about two minutes or so. The mixture will be thick and clear.

Add 1 cup of blueberries and return to boiling. Cook until the blueberries begin to burst and remove from heat. Stir in 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Pour into a serving dish and serve.

This is so good warm and so much better than any store-bought blueberry sauce I've ever had. Makes 1 1/2 cups.