Puffed Pancake with blueberries and pears
The other day I posted a picture of our Thanksgiving breakfast dish. I have made this dish on days I deemed special over the last 30 plus years. The Marlene Sorosky cookbook, Cookery for Entertaining, is falling apart! I’ve also made her Frozen Lemon Cream served in hollowed out lemons.
Marlene Sorosky had a cookware store and I had attended a class there with French chef, Jacques Pepin. What a delight he was. And during the class Danny Kaye dropped in and showed Jacques how to make these special Chinese Chicken Lollipops, made from the wing segments.
It was a delight to see a world-renowned chef so open to learning something new. Both of my Jacques Pepin cookbooks were signed by Jacques and Danny.
Okay, back to breakfast. There are a few recipes in this cookbook, that was published in 1979, that I really like. The Apple Puffed Pancake is one of them. I’ve played with this over the years and put in different fruits.
I’ve done apples, peaches, nectarines, blueberries and pears, peeled and unpeeled. I’ve put blueberries with apples and pears. I’ll probably try a few others, mango comes to mind.
It takes about 10-15 minutes to prepare, then 20 minutes to cook. It puffs up like a souffle and falls some as it sits. But it’s festive looking, a delight to eat and impresses any guests who are lucky to have been invited to join you.
Here is your recipe:
- 6 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups of milk
- 1 cup of flour
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1/4 lb of butter
- 2 apples, peeled and thinly sliced
- 2-3 tablespoons of brown sugar
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Mix your eggs, milk, flour, sugar, vanilla, salt and cinnamon in a bowl until blended. Put the butter in a 13″x9″ baking dish and put it in the oven to melt. Once melted, add the apple slices and put it back into the oven until the butter begins to sizzle. You don’t want the butter to brown. Remove the dish at that point, pour in the egg mixture over the fruit and sprinkle with brown sugar. Put it back into the middle of the oven for 20 minutes or until puffed and brown. Serve immediately. It will serve from 4 to 8.
Now I think you could substitute rice flour or almond flour if you need. I have substituted Coconut Palm sugar for the brown sugar. I may try almond flour or amaranth flour one day.
I have also added powdered ginger along with the cinnamon or instead of as well. But then I love ginger. And I haven’t tried the coconut milk yet but I may! It might be better to try some coconut cream mixed with coconut milk.
Let me know how you like it if you try it. I often halve the recipe for my husband and myself and use an 8″x8″ pan. If I had bacon or sausage or a big bowl of fruit and toast, I might have leftovers. But we just finish this off easily and feel pampered.
I’ve also served this with a bottle of champagne on special occasions. It would be lovely to serve Franciacorte Sparkling Wines from Italy for this, especially the Franciacorte Villa Brut DOCG, if you are lucky to find it near you!
Do you have any special recipes you save for special occasions? How do you celebrate special days? Do you ever cook something elegant just for yourself?
Sounds so yummy! We love french toast around here. And yes, I can imagine any Franciacorta sparkling wine being a delightful pairing–as long as you didn’t put syrup or too much sweetness on the french toast!
Since this isn’t french toast, there is no need for syrup. This is perfect for any @Franciacorta sparkling wine. Just a little coconut palm sugar.
thank you for this recipe Julieanne – I’ve pinned it to make sure I always know where it is. Once I have my kitchen back, I’ll be giving it a try.!
Love how you play around with the recipe, and tried variations, I always do that too 🙂
yummy thanks for posting this …
Jacs
Please let me know how you like it when you do get to try this. The design on the top always changes because it all depends on how the egg batter flows into the fruit and butter. I forget that my design on the bottom will get rearranged but it’s still always lovely.
I will let you know how it turns out 🙂
Good grief! Now I’m hungry!!! These look delicious!
LOL! It is delicious and festive. The fresh pear with frozen blueberries came out fantastically!
This looks delicious! I have pinned it as well so I can make it when I find the time. mmm!
Let me know how you like it, Deanna. I may try using coconut cream in it next.
This recipe looks awesome! I just bookmarked it to try over the holidays. As always, thx Julieanne!!
You re quite welcome!
nice as a child I didn’t like pancakes now as an Adult I do enjoy them, been ages since I had some so thanks for the reminder of a tasty treat!
This is more a cross between a souffle and a pancake. I love the dish.
Hi Julieanne,
The recipe sounds delicious! I’m gluten/dairy-free, but indulging in reading about all the goodies is wonderful and harmless. 🙂 But I have to tell you that Jacques Pepin is very popular in the bay area and he has a regular on the public TV. If you go to KQED.org you can find out all about it. I heard the interview with him at KQED’s “Forum,” which you can find in the archives. Again, I can’t make many of his recipes, but I really like him as a person (based on the interview). 🙂
I’ll bet you could make this Karo. Substitute rice flour and use coconut milk or maybe the cream. I’m going to try doing it to see how it comes out. Or almond milk. Eggs are neither gluten or dairy so that should work okay.
This recipe sounds delicious. I really can’t wait to make it! Thanks for sharing!
Please let me know how you like it! It’s been a special of mine for a long time!
Wow I will be making the puffed pancake for my loved ones it looks delicious! I have a few special recipes for Christmas but I am still learning how to cook a lot if recipes really. My friends and I in France Cook lots for each other and I’m building my confidence up as I don’t feel like a good cook!! Next week we are having a birthday dinner party all about ‘cheese’ so if you have any ideas if a new dish I can try please let me know!!! Thanks love jennifer xxx
Jennifer, I have a suggestion. Be okay with learning and understand you are as capable as anyone else. If you love cooking, the rest will come easily. Even now I am still learning. You are most likely a very good cook and one who wants to learn is to be cherished and nurtured. I’ve had failures and done dumb things. Those times are good for humor and laughing at oneself. Now for the cheese items. I have a couple of ideas. You could easily do a scalloped potato dish with cheese in it. You could also do an eggplant lasagna using eggplant slices instead of noodles layered with ricotta and mozzarella. You usually add parmigiana reggiano to the ricotta cheese with egg and chopped parsley so you’d have 3 kinds of cheese in that dish. How are you with making pastry like a pie dough? I know another recipe. Give your skills, comfort zone and I’ll suggest something for you.