Cinnamon Apple Dutch Baby

It's time again for  Secret Recipe Club (Secret Recipe Club) reveal! My blog assignment this month was Spinach Tiger where Angela posts a wide variety of beautiful delicious food.  It was, once again, a challenge to decide which recipe to try.

A couple recipes that I thought about trying were this Baked Spaghetti and Broccoli Frittata and this Roast Chicken with Lemons - and I'm planning to make both of them soon - but in the end I decided on this Cinnamon Apple Dutch Baby.

Cook the apples, sugar & cinnamon

I've made Dutch Baby pancakes before, but I never baked the apples right in the pancake.  I don't know why, because it makes complete sense - why use two skillets - one to bake the pancake, and one to cook the apples - when you can use one?

Pour the batter on top

The first time I made this, I followed Angela's recipe - using 4 eggs, 1 cup flour, and 1 cup milk.  It was good, even though I cooked the apples and sugar a bit too much before I put the pancake in the oven so it was almost burnt around the edges.  We drizzled it with a bit of maple syrup, and it was yummy.

The second time I made it - yes, I had to make it again - I used only 3 eggs, 1/2 cup flour, and 1/2 cup milk.  And I made sure to only cook the apples for about 5 minutes like the recipe says.  I really liked the apple/pancake balance better this time, and I didn't even bother with the syrup.  It really didn't need it; the cinnamony, sugary goodness of the apples came through wonderfully.

Cinnamon Apple Dutch Baby
recipe from Spinach Tiger

Ingredients

• 2 large apples (I used Fuji)
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• Powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions

1. Peel, core and thinly slice apples.  Preheat oven to 450°.  
2. Melt butter in 10 inch frying pan (that can be transferred into oven). Cast iron is optimal. Add in cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar. Once melted, add in apples and cook until apples are softened, about five minutes. Place pan in oven while making batter.
3. Mix eggs with flour until smooth. Add in milk and vanilla.
4. Pour batter over apple mixture.
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Dust with confectioner’s sugar. Cut into wedges

 Note: If you don’t have a frying pan that will go in oven, fry apples on top of stove and pour into a round cake pan, add batter and bake.

I will definitely be making this again!

Blackberry Rhubarb Crumble

I'm kind of obsessed with everything rhubarb right now, so when I pulled a package of blackberries out of my freezer, I went looking for a recipe that called for both blackberries and rhubarb.  I found recipes for Rhubarb and Blackberry Snack Cake, Rhubarb and Blackberry Crumble Bars, and this Blackberry Rhubarb Crumble.

Blackberry Rhubarb Crumble
adapted from theKitchn

For the fruit:

• 2 cups frozen blackberries, mostly thawed
• 4 cups frozen rhubarb, mostly thawed
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• Pinch salt

For the crumble topping:

• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•  3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1-1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
• 8 tablespoons butter (1 stick), melted

Directions:

1. Place the blackberries and rhubarb in a 9x13-inch baking dish. Sprinkle with the 1/2 cup brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and salt; toss gently.
2. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs.  Mix in the vanilla and 3/4 cup brown sugar.
3. Mix the flour with the baking powder and salt and stir into egg mixture to make a clumpy dough.
4. Using your hands, drop clumps of dough evenly over the fruit.  Have some extra flour handy to clean off your hands and clean out the bowl, spreading 'crumbles' over the top of the clumps. Sprinkle the chopped pecans over the top, then pour the melted butter over everything.
5. Bake for 35 minutes at 375°F, or until the top is golden brown and the crumble is baked through. Let sit for at least 30 minutes before eating.

The original recipe called for a bit more (fresh) fruit, but I used what I had - frozen.  One of the comments said that rhubarb and blackberries are not in season at the same time, making it hard to have both at the same time.  Using frozen works very well and solves that problem.  It does not even need to be completely thawed.

I mixed the fruit, sugar, cinnamon and ginger right in the baking dish -
no need to dirty another bowl.

What surprised me - never putting rhubarb and blackberries together before - is that the blackberry flavor really comes through, even though there is twice as much rhubarb.  I did not cut the sugar down in this recipe as I normally do because Faith, who posted the original recipe said the fruit was "proudly tangy and not too sweet" and that rhubarb should not be covered up with sugar - which I completely agree with, of course.  So I took her at her word, and I think it was just right.

Fresh out of the oven

Yum!

I especially love the topping on this.  I'm pretty sure it's the brown sugar.    I'm going to have to try it with different fruits, too.

Serve with vanilla ice cream.  Enjoy!

Related articles

• Rhubarb Crumb Bars
• Rhubarb Crumble
• Rhubarb crumble - with a twist
• Rhubarb Apple Crisp