Hot, fluffy, sweet German pancakes are perfect on a snowy Saturday morning. This breakfast recipe is so yummy, and it is perfect for when you want to make something but don’t have more than the normal staples on hand.
German pancakes brown beautifully when baked in a cast-iron skillet, but if you don’t have one, you can use a metal – or ceramic/glass in a pinch – 9×13 pan. I had a little German pancake cook-off with my brother John one time, and he used a glass pan. I used a cast-iron skillet. I won, but maybe that’s because my kids were the judges ?.
Another thing that takes a tiny bit of planning is to put your milk and eggs out on the counter to come to room temperature an hour or two beforehand. If you forget, it’s not the end of the world, but having the ingredients at room temperature helps get a very fluffy pancake.
When you are ready to get started, place your skillet in the oven. Then turn it on and preheat it to 450 degrees.
It is so important to preheat your pan with the oven! This is the same with Yorkshire pudding, or any milk/egg/flour batter. I had a little talk about making perfect Yorkshire pudding with my great aunt Kay while she was visiting from Canada, and we agreed that a hot pan is essential to perfect pudding puffiness. But I digress.
The white vanilla keeps the batter color light, but you can use normal dark vanilla too.
Crack your eggs into a medium bowl and add the milk, flour, salt, and vanilla. If you have some white powdered vanilla, that works well here, but normal vanilla works great too.
Whisk until smooth. Don’t spend forever trying to get the lumps out; it is okay if it is a little lumpy.
I like to put the oven ingredients together so I don’t have to spend too much time with the oven door open.
When your oven is ready, open the door, place your stick of butter into the skillet, and close the door again. The butter will sizzle and brown, but that is just what we want.
I like to get some cinnamon ready and sift or sprinkle it on the butter as soon as I open the door after melting the butter. I once tried putting it in the batter, but it turned the batter an ugly brown color. So now I put it in the butter, and the batter stays white and pretty.
The pour on the batter. The butter will swirl everywhere, but that is part of the charm.
Close the oven door and don’t open it again until the pancakes are done. Opening the oven door to check on the pancake will cause it to fall, and you don’t want that. If you want to check on it, turn on the oven light and peek through the window.
When the pancakes are really fluffy and starting to brown, take it out. It is so puffy right now!
Transfer the german pancakes onto a plate. It will fall, but that is okay. Sprinkle on lemon juice and sift powdered sugar over the whole thing.
Your german pancakes are ready to serve! Cut it like a pizza, and let everyone grab a slice!
| Prep Time | 15 minutes |
| Cook Time | 20-25 minutes |
| Servings |
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- 9 eggs Room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups milk Room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups bread flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cups butter 1 stick
- 1 Tbsp Cinnamon Optional
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1/4 cups powdered sugar
Ingredients
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- Place 12-inch cast-iron skillet in cold oven. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- Crack eggs into a medium bowl. Add milk, flour, salt, and vanilla. Whisk everything together, but don’t over beat. Batter will be slightly lumpy.
- When oven is preheated, place butter in skillet. Close the oven and wait for the butter to melt (it is okay if it doesn’t totally melt before adding the rest).
- Open oven and sprinkle cinnamon on melted butter.
- Pour batter in skillet and close oven.
- Bake 20-25 minutes, or until puffy and golden brown.
- Remove skillet from oven and transfer to serving plate. Sprinkle in lemon juice and powdered sugar.
- Cut and serve immediately.
My goodness, this looks yummy, Mary! Thx for sharing not just the recipe, but the pictures/tutorial! WONDERFUL!
Thank you, Turner! If you make this, let me know how it turns out!