German Pancake for the Pope

This post was written by past Catholic Cuisine contributor Amy.

Saturday, April 16th, is Pope Benedict XVI's birthday!  So in order to fully appreciate our German pontiff's special day we are going all German.  Other than Brats for dinner we are going to have a German pancake for breakfast!

I adapted this from a recipe I found at Food Network a gazillion years ago.  I, of course, double it too since there are so many of us.

German Pancake

• 4 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 Tablespoons maple syrup ( you can also use sugar, but since we have someone who gave up refined sugar for Lent this works!)
• 1 cup milk
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 cup of unbleached all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons shortening
• Powdered sugar (optional)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.  Place cast iron skillet in oven while preheating.

In a saucepan or in the microwave warm milk with butter over medium heat till butter melts (or almost, don't let the milk boil!).  Whisk together eggs, salt, syrup, warm milk, melted butter and vanilla.  Sift flour over wet mixture and whisk till smooth.

Remove cast iron from oven and place shortening in pan.  Using a brush cover all the sides and bottom with the shortening as it melts.  Pour in batter and bake for about 12 minutes.

Lower the heat to 350 degrees F and continue to bake till nice and golden brown, about 10 to 15 more minutes.

There it is in the oven, poofing away

When you take out of the oven run a knife along the edge of skillet and serve immediately.

You can serve it with fresh fruit syrup, jam or jelly, or maple syrup.  If desired shift powered sugar over the top!

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Strawberry Syrup for Valentines Day

This post was written by past Catholic Cuisine contributor Amy.



Valentine's Day is fast approaching and if you are like me, it might just be sneaking up on you a little too quickly! This is a real simple and yummy treat you can give your family on Valentine's morning. While the syrup is cooking you can cook your French toast, using your cookie cutter in the shape of a heart! If you aren't worries about calories, either, top it with some homemade whip cream.

This is a syrup I have been making and tweaking for years. It is finally right where we like it. It is great for those who are trying to watch their sugar intake, as it does have nearly the amount of sugar as regular syrup!

Amy's Strawberry Syrup

Ingredients: 

• 2 large bags of frozen strawberries (about 5-6 lbs)
• ¼ cup butter all cut up
• 1/3 cup of powdered sugar (you can add more according to your taste)

Directions:

Cook strawberries, butter, and powdered sugar (use powdered instead of regular sugar as this will help thicken the syrup) in large pot for 3-5 minutes on high stirring constantly, until all butter melts and syrup starts to form.

 
 

Turn heat to medium-high, stirring only occasionally, until all the strawberries are cooked through. Then take a potato masher and mash the strawberries to your hearts content (depending on how chunky you want it!). This syrup is great on pancakes, crepes, French toast, or your favorite breakfast treat! Hey, it is probably great on ice cream too!

You can substitute any frozen fruit for the strawberries, such as blueberries in honor of Our Lady of Lourdes! You just may not want to mash berries such as blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries.

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