Love and Olive Oil

German Apple Pancakes

German Apple Pancakes

German pancakes just might be one of my favorite things for breakfast. Especially in the winter. They are rich and satisfying, and fun to watch. If you’ve never made them before, don’t turn away from the oven. Right before your eyes, you’ll see the batter begin to rise and form beautiful golden peaks and valleys of puffed goodness. Almost like magic. Don’t forget to lower your oven rack, though, as the peaks can often rise to extraordinary heights, and you don’t want them to run into the top of your oven!

These pancakes are great as is, but this past weekend, we decided to make use of the beautiful bounty of fall apples available now. Think of it like a light and fluffy apple pie, that you eat for breakfast. I’m sure you could eat this for dessert as well, it actually might be more appropriate, but it is always a breakfast in my mind. It is, after all, a pancake. :)

German Pancakes with Apples

Makes 4-6 servings.

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Ingredients:

1 cup milk
1 cup flour
6 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter

Optional Apple Topping
1-2 apples, of your favorite variety, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Directions:

Combine milk, flour, eggs, and salt in medium bowl and mix until just combined.

Move oven rack down to bottom 1/3 of oven, lower if you have a small oven. Place butter in a 13×9 inch pan sprayed with cooking spray, put in oven, and preheat to 450ËšF. When butter is hot and sizzling, remove from oven and carefully pour batter into pan.

Return pan to oven and bake for 25 minutes, or until golden brown and fluffy.

Slice and serve hot with maple syrup and powdered sugar.

To make Apple variation:
Combine thinly sliced apples in bowl and toss with sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and lemon juice. In a separate bowl, combine brown sugar and remaining cinnamon and set aside. Before pouring batter into hot butter, spread a thin layer of apple slices in bottom of pan (should use about 3/4 of the apples). Pour in batter, and arrange remaining apples sparingly on top. Sprinkle with brown sugar mixture. Put back in oven and bake as usual.

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22 Comments

  1. Good Morning,

    I cannot wait to make this. Just want to confirm oven temp. Is that an oven temp of 450 F???

    Thank you!

  2. Just made these for dinner tonight. They were quite delicious. I’ll be making them again to be sure.  Great time saver: just pour into the over, and leave until done. Such an efficient use of time. How very German indeed.  

  3. Yum! This looks absolutely amazing! I’ve never eaten a German pancake (or a ‘Dutch baby’ as I keep reading about recently!) but it looks so yummy. The idea of the apple and cinnamon topping is divine too. Beautiful photo. Love your blog! This is my first visit and I can’t wait to read more xx

  4. Made these in the apple version this morning, Lindsay… topped them with bacon, as well as maple syrup and powdered sugar. They were gluten free too, and sooo divine! The apple becomes almost custard-y, and the combination of apple/bacon/pancake and syrup is wonderful.

    Healthy breakfast, it was not- but super yummy and easy!!

  5. I just discovered your blog… And I absolutely love it. You are amazing at this!

  6. Can you use Olive Oil to make regular pancakes, I know it’s not the topic, but I would like to really know.

  7. Great weekend breakfast treat!

  8. I just made these and they were good, except I could taste the egg in the pancakes too much. Should I add more than one cup of flour to 6 eggs or is this just how these taste?

  9. just made these – the corners caramelize perfectly, bubbling beautifully in the oven. Had the apple versio – it was like a quick, delicious deep-dish pancake, served a la mode. Scrumptious!

  10. This recipe is fantastic! Very easy to make and fun to watch in the oven. I went for the apple version and the apples came out perfectly tender. A real boyfriend pleaser for sure!

  11. They look so fun! I’ll have to try them sometime. Great for kids!

  12. Oh my gosh, I love german pancakes! I used to have sleepovers at my friend’s house when I was a kid and her dad made them for us in the morning! Such good memories.

  13. That looks good!

  14. Any breakfast food with apples is always welcome in my kitchen, it looks golden, sweet, and delicious :)!

  15. These definitely remind me of the amazing apple pancakes from Walker Brothers pancake house near my house. Now, I can make them at home :)

  16. We used to eat these at a restaurant near Chicago when we lived there. I can’t remember the name of the place but they were famous for their apple pancakes. I’ve never attempted to make them at home but this brings back memories so I think I’ll try it. We’re getting some great apples right now!

  17. Looks delicious! I haven’t had German pancakes in a long time!

  18. Definitely give it a try. It’s by no means *healthy*… but so delicious. And yes, the only butter is what melts in the pan. It gets nice and browned, though I don’t know if I’d call it caramelized. I’ve always thought the hot butter helped the mountains to form, but I could be completely wrong. Definitely try it though – it’s amazing!

  19. I’m sad to say, I have yet to attempt german pancakes.So the only butter in the actual batter is placed on the pan first? Does the pancake itself get carmalized on the outside, kind of? I’m trying to visualize this thing :)

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