dutch babies

dutch babies
from Joy
bakes 2 dutch babies in 8 – 10 inch cast-iron skillets,* serving 4 – 5**

4 eggs
1 c. milk
1 tbsp. neutral oil (such as canola or grapeseed)
1 c. flour
     or gluten-free:
     48 g. pure oat flour
     36. g. potato starch
     36 g. tapioca starch
     20 g. corn starch
     1 tsp. guar or xanthan gum
1 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
a good grating of nutmeg (let's say more than 1/8 tsp.)
about 5 tbsp. butter
1 – 2 lemons, cut into wedges for squeezing
2 tbsp. icing sugar for sprinkling
(optional: glass of juice)

Put your two cast-iron skillets in the oven. Turn the oven on to between 425 and 450 degrees Fahrenheit. (I have a good oven right now and I like 440. But I know not all ovens will be that exact and it doesn't really matter, as long it's really hot.)

Get all the ingredients out.

Have a glass of orange or apple juice, whatever you have on hand.

Beat the eggs for one minute, but no longer. Slowly add the milk. Slowly add the oil. Slowly add the flour.

Stir in the vanilla, and then the cinnamon and nutmeg.

Put on your oven mitts (yes, both of them). Carefully, take out the hot skillets and put them on the top of the stove. Drop about 3 tbsp. of butter in your larger skillet and a bit less in your slightly smaller skillet. Watch it melt. Wearing your oven mitts, tilt the pan a bit so that it's coated with butter.

Pour in the thin batter right away. Don't worry about the melted butter that might sneak up along the side and over the batter – it's all good.

Wearing your oven mitts, carefully slide each skillet back into the hot oven.

Pull up a chair and your glass of juice and watch them poof up. Bake for about 15 – 20 minutes, until they are mountainous and browned and the sides have pulled away from the skillet.

Wearing your oven mitts, take the skillets out of the oven and set them on a rack. Call someone over to see what you've made. Try not to worry when it all falls down (in about 30 seconds). Sprinkle each Dutch baby with icing sugar through a fine-mesh sieve. Slice and serve with lemon wedges. Eat immediately.

*We have tried a metal skillet and it just didn't crisp as well.
**This recipe halves perfectly.