German Fruit Pancake with Mixed Berry Syrup

I found this recipe for German pancakes on Foodnetwork.com and I really wanted to try it.  I had never made a German pancake.  This was a first for me, but it seemed like a simple recipe.  I gave it a try yesterday.

Ingredients (Recipe by Dave Lieberman)

3 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 tablespoons butter

1 pound bag frozen mixed berries

1/3 cup pure maple syrup

Powdered sugar, for dusting

Directions 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Whisk together eggs, milk, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl whisk together flour and baking powder until blended. Dump the dry ingredients into the wet and whisk until homogeneous. Let stand at least 10 minutes. Heat an 8 or 10-inch cast iron skillet in the oven with the butter. Pour the batter into the cast iron pan and bake until the pancake is golden brown, puffed up and set in the center, about 15 minutes. To make the mixed berry syrup: Heat the berries in a small saucepan with the maple syrup until mixture thickens, but you can still see the berries. Serve warm over a wedge of pancake, dusted with powdered sugar.


I thought this turned out well. It was nice that this dish wasn't overly sweet. I only wished I had more berry sauce. Everyone wanted extra berries on their pancake wedge. Doubling the berry sauce would probably be too much. Next time I'll make 1 and 1/2 times the sauce recipe. A scoop of vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt would turn this into a yummy dessert.

I simply followed all the steps in this recipe.  I mixed dry and wet ingredients separately and then combined them.  I let the batter sit for 10 minutes before I poured it into the preheated skillet with the melted butter.  I baked it for about 20 minutes in my oven until a toothpick inserted in the middle came out clean

While the pancake was baking I worked on the mixed berry sauce.  I already had this big bag of berries in my freezer.  It's nice to have on hand for smoothies, too.  I didn't have much of a choice of maple syrups when I went grocery shopping.  This store brand was the only one on the shelf, but it is pure maple syrup--grade A dark amber. 

The Results...

I didn't hear any complaints about this recipe, except that we needed a little more berry sauce.  My 5 year old not only told me I could make this again, but to keep this recipe forever.  My first attempt at making a German pancake was successful!