Welcome to the first installation of Breakfast Week!
I've been trying lots of new breakfast ideas lately, and I'm going to share them with you in this week-long event. Do you love breakfast as much as I do? I am cah-razy for breakfast foods. I eat them any time of day, any day of the week.
No time to make dinner? Scrambled eggs!
Breakfast is always my backup plan, and often my primary goal.
I love breakfast so much that I went crazy my freshman year of college. Having pancakes, eggs, French toast, and bacon available to me every morning in the dorm dining hall was just too tempting. I ended up gaining The Freshman 20 instead of the clichéd 15.
So, we're kicking off our first day of
(I just love that little graphic.)
with this oven pancake.
Now, the naming of such pancakes seems to be a bit controversial. I found the recipe for this here on Jane Maynard's This Week For Dinner. She calls them Kaiserschmarrn or Emperor's Pancakes, and notes that they are a traditional Austrian dessert. So I am dubbing them Austrian Pancakes. It's much easier to say than Kaiserschmarrn. They are very closely related to this Puff Pancake I showed you a while ago, also known as a German pancake--though the actual origin of that recipe has been disputed.
Wherever they come from, whatever you call them, they're darn good. Not light and fluffy like our traditional (American?) pancake, but dense and moist.
And these Austrian delights are much thicker than the Puff pancake. The puff pancake expends a lot of energy puffing up the sides of the pan and ends up looking like a giant bowl. This bowl happens to be perfect for holding powdered sugar and lemon juice. Yum.
But my favorite part of the Puff is the dense center portion. That part is magnified a thousand times in the Austrian version. The Austrian version is all thick center, without the overly dramatic perimeter puff.
So thick and lovely is this cake that it needs a more substantial sauce. Don't get me wrong--it is still mighty tasty with powdered sugar and lemon juice. But I took Jane's tip and topped it with a stewed plum sauce...
...except that I only had a few plums. So I improvised. It's what I do. I made a marionberry* plum sauce, and it was amazing. Sweet, but tart. We compared it to a rhubarb pie filling. It was so good, I didn't even want any powdered sugar on top of my pancake. And I had to restrain myself from licking my plate.
*Does everyone know what marionberries are? Or are they just a NW fruit? They're basically big blackberries. Blackberries would be a fine substitute.
Marionberry Plum Sauce
4 medium plums
1/4 cup sugar (or more, if you prefer your fruit sweetened)
1/2 cup water
1 pint marionberries (or blackberries, blueberries...even apples would be good)
1 teaspoon cornstarch + 1/8 cup cold water
1/4 cup sugar (or more, if you prefer your fruit sweetened)
1/2 cup water
1 pint marionberries (or blackberries, blueberries...even apples would be good)
1 teaspoon cornstarch + 1/8 cup cold water
- Chop plums coarsely (do not peel). Set aside.
- Combine sugar and 1/2 cup water in a heavy saucepan.
- Bring sugar and water to a boil; boil 3 minutes.
- Add plums and berries, stir.
- Return to boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, remove the lid.
- Combine cornstarch and 1/8 cup cold water in a small bowl or cup until cornstarch is dissolved.
- Add cornstarch mixture to simmering fruit and stir to thoroughly combine.
- Let simmer/boil for one minute, stir, and remove from heat.
- Allow to cool slightly.
- Serve over Austrian pancake
