Dutch Puff Pancake – My Momma’s Recipe
My First Love.
Look at that gorgeous kid… and the baby isn’t bad either! That woman in the pic still makes the best dutch puff pancake in the Western Hemisphere.
One of my all-time favorite memories, which my Mom & I still giggle about to this day… Ok, this is going to date me a little, but you regular readers already know I turned 40 recently, so here we go:
Do you remember that show from the ’80’s, “V”?! It was about alien-lizards disguised as humans living on Earth. We LOVED this show. It sounds ridiculous, but it was the early ’80’s…
Well, one night we were in our Chevrolet Chevette hatchback (yes, a Chevette hatchback… named “Skeeter”, btw) and there were radio and television towers with flashing red lights on the road. They looked like they were so high up in the sky to me as a little kid… like they could have been lights on an alien spacecraft!
All of a sudden, my Mom hunches down over the steering wheel and starts saying “Oh no, they’re gonna get us!” Well, you can imagine our reaction! My brother & I started screeching & laughing like crazy and she just kept egging us on…
She pretended like she was racing down the road, although I highly doubt she ever broke the speed limit, and we just kept looking behind us as if the lights on those towers might actually be the “V” coming to get us!!!
I will freely admit that whenever I’m home and on Dustin Road, I think of this & laugh and if I have my Mom in the car… you know what happens next.
My Mom always wanted to be a mother. Looking at family photos, you can see it in her face. Having children truly did bring her joy… I’m sure it also brought heartache, frustration, worry, stress, etc. but we rarely knew it. However, it was crystal clear when I was a teenager… because I’ll be completely honest, I was a pain.
The wonderful thing that happens between mothers and their children (if you’re lucky) when you become an adult is the transformation in the relationship to friendship.
I can call my mom and chat in the same way I can with friends and that is a rare gift.
She has become less of a parent and more of a confidant in my adult years.
I am one of the lucky ones. I was born to a woman who has always been my beacon of light calling me home to her safe shores. Raised with love and laughter, music and dancing in the kitchen… I am one of the lucky ones and I am thankful.
Happy Mother’s Day!
The recipe below is from my Momma, another food memory from childhood… The breakfast we most often begged for: A dutch puff pancake, or dutch baby as we called it.
Dutch Puff Pancake
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk
- 2 large eggs
- 2/3 cup flour
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
- 2 tbsp butter
Instructions
- Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 400F.
- Put butter in pie plate and put pie plate in oven to heat while making batter. (could also use cast iron skillet or heavy-bottomed frying pan)
- Put rest of ingredients into a blender. Blend until well combined.
- Carefully pour the batter into hot pie plate.
- Bake for 25-35 minutes until puffy and deep golden brown.
- Dust with powdered sugar & serve immediately, pancake will collapse shortly after removing from the oven.