german pancake

Family is a funny thing.

                                                        

My dad and I both associate this pancake with childhood, but not together. When we first discussed making one, he couldn't believe I'd ever had it before. To me, this pancake brings back memories of the night before leaving for sleepaway camp (this one, specifically). I would stay at my friend's house (she lived just a couple hours from camp, as opposed to the 7ish I did), and in the morning we'd have this for breakfast. We also probably had it for breakfast most other times I slept over, but the memory is forever attached to camp. To my dad, this pancake reminds him of meals with his mom.

                                                       

This realization of a similar (but not shared) memory came just a few minutes before (after?) my brother said something to the puppy, and my mom and I simultaneously responded in our best sad puppy voice, in the same tone and pitch, with the same exact words. 

It's a good thing I love my parents, because it seems as though I'm turning into them.

We ate the pancake for dessert, served kind of like a crepe (except not rolled or folded, as you can see below). The consistency is a bit thicker and eggy, somewhere between a crepe and a popover. I'm sure you could eat it savory if you wanted (there's no sugar in the batter), but we went the powdered sugar, maple syrup and fresh fruit route.

The recipe comes straight out of the recipe box, filled mostly with index cards almost as yellow as the pancake itself from age, in very typewriter-looking font (it may have been from a typewriter, I actually haven't ever asked. Anyone care to weigh in?). I'm sharing a snapshot of the original recipe card, so you have an idea of how we roll. You can tell the recipes that came from Nonny (what we called my dad's mom), because they have next to no instructions. Actually, this one is a blessing - it has cook times. When I get around to sharing icebox cookies, you'll notice we weren't as lucky.

The best way to learn though is to be thrown in head first, right?

Just beat everything together and pour contents into an oven-safe pan (we used the cast iron, and doubled the recipe because the pan was so large, instead of halving the pan size. Clearly we have our priorities straight). Bake as directed. Under no circumstances are you to open the oven while the pancake is inside!

It's Recipe Madness! Check out these blogs for more daily food updates all this month!

The Cheesefries Stand Alone

Food Feminism Life

Life's Little Epiphanies

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