Since we have moved back to Arkansas, we don’t seem to have as much time for breakfast. The boys are running off to school during the week and to activities on the weekends.
There is just so much happening!
But Taido still tries to fix a fun breakfast on Sunday mornings while he is home for the weekend, so this week we had this classic apple pancake that is actually a German recipe.
Which makes sense, because this time last year, we were covered up with apples in Germany. They were falling off the trees on all of our walks and neighbors left them in boxes on our porch.
When we walked by the farm, we could smell homemade apple cider vinegar being made. Taido drank it religiously last fall to keep away winter colds. (Apple cider vinegar supposedly cures everything that ails you!)
I have always made this recipe in cast iron skillets, and thank goodness we had one lone cast iron skillet with us in Germany so I made this pancake in it, as well as many other favorite recipes.
But it’s fun to be back at my parents’ house where Mama has a whole stack of cast iron skillets, so we can have apple pancake in all different sizes.
I have a cookbook full of German recipes that a friend gave us at church in Germany, and I think it will be fun to use it while we are home to recall the hearty Swabian meals we enjoyed over the last year.
I hope our table will always serve to both remind us of the different foods we have shared with others and to welcome new people (and new foods) to our lives.
Apple Pancake
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 large tart apple
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sifted flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons butter, melted (optional)
Put a 9 or 10 inch cast iron skillet in the oven. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Peel and core apple. Slice thin and sprinkle with half the cinnamon and sugar. Set aside. Mix eggs, milk, flour and salt. Beat with rotary beater for 2 minutes. Pull out hot skillet, drop one tablespoon butter in and swirl around. Pour batter on to melted butter. Place apple slices on top of batter, covering in full. Bake uncovered for 15 minutes. Puncture pancake with fork a few times, turn oven down to 350 degrees and bake about 10 more minutes. Remove from oven and pour melted butter over pancake (if using) and sprinkle with remaining cinnamon and sugar. Loosen from pan. Slice and serve immediately.
I triple this recipe and divide it between three random cast iron skillets.
