Out of the Breakfast Rut - Dutch Babies

What an odd name for a pancake!

I've heard this recipe called Puff Pancake, German Pancakes, and Dutch Blanket, but when I was a child, we always called these Dutch Babies.

I had nearly forgotten about Dutch Babies. But a couple months ago, I pulled out my mom's old recipe and tried it one morning. It was love at first sight for my children, who were weary of the same old scrambled eggs.

I think I've served this cross between a popover, a crepe, and a pancake every week since then. I love the simplicity and my children love the taste. It gives them a good serving of protein and uses up my egg surplus. And nothing beats pulling Dutch Babies out of the oven high and puffy, almost spilling out over the pan and watch it sink. No wonder children love it. What other breakfast dish performs stunts!

We usually serve this with cinnamon sugar. You can add cinnamon and sugar directly to the batter, but we like to just sprinkle it on top after it is baked. I like to toss a few fresh berries on top. There is just enough time to run out to the raspberry patch and pick a handful of berries while the Dutch Babies bake in the oven.

My mom's recipe includes four amounts depending upon how many eggs you wanted to use. My family can eat the six egg version and asks for more. Use a 9x9 pan for 3-4 eggs and a 9x13 pan for 5-6 eggs. You can also use a cast iron pan in which case you will have a round pancake!

Note: I decrease the butter by a tablespoon or two but I am sharing the recipe here as the original.

Dutch Babies

Choose amount you wish:

3 eggs
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup flour
salt to taste

4 eggs
1/3 cup butter
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
salt to taste

5 eggs
1/2 cup butter
1 1/4 cups milk
1 1/4 cups flour
salt to taste


6 eggs
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups flour
salt to taste

Place butter in casserole dish or cast iron pan. Set in 425 degree oven to melt the butter while mixing up batter.

Place eggs in blender and blend at high speed for 1 minute. Add milk, flour, and salt. Continue to blend for 30 seconds. Pour batter slowly in pan with melted butter.

Bake until puffy and brown, about 20-25 minutes. Serve immediately with cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar, fruit, or syrup.


Did any of you grow up with Dutch Babies? Or did you call them something else?

Edit: 4/15/2018

We still eat Dutch Babies every week, but the recipe has went through several revisions. I thought I'd share the updated recipe with you.

Dutch Babies

6 or 7 eggs

1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 T lemon juice
raspberries, cinnamon sugar, or confectionery sugar (optional)



Place butter in casserole dish or cast iron pan. Set in 425 degree oven to melt the butter while mixing up batter.

Place eggs in blender and blend at high speed for 1 minute. Add milk, flour, vanilla, lemon juice, and salt. Continue to blend for 30 seconds. Pour batter slowly in pan with melted butter. If desired, sprinkle with red raspberries.


Bake until puffy and brown, about 20-25 minutes. Serve immediately with cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar, fruit, or syrup.

Honey Cornbread

Life continues...

Whether I have time to blog about it or not.

Last weekend we were down in North Carolina visiting Ed's sister Jean. (And thanks to those who continue to pray for their family. They are doing well, but they do miss Jason.) We spent a fun day at Jamestown - an extra special treat since we studied Jamestown recently in our history studies.



This week, my brothers put in replacements windows in our house.  I've been putting off any deep cleaning for months, especially window washing, since I knew this was planned. It is wonderful to have sparkling clean windows - that actually close securely!



Now I have no excuse not to clean. We are diving deep under furniture and in closets and finding a healthy crop of dust bunnies and stink bugs. I love how children are thrilled at simple things like reorganizing their bedroom furniture.

But somehow, even on busy days, everyone still expects to eat! Cornbread is a favorite at our house and the perfect addition to a pot of soup or chili. It is easy enough that my eight year old made it herself last night.

Honey Cornbread

1 1/2 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup honey
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup melted butter

Mix all dry ingredients together. In another bowl, mix all wet ingredients together. Mix all together until barely moistened. Pour into greased 9x13 pan or cast iron skillet. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes.

Apple Cider Making

Another annual family event - apple cider making.

 A couple of my brothers had gleaned about 40 bushels of apples from a friend's orchard.



This week my whole family got together to make cider.



First the apples are washed and cut in half.




The apples are dumped into a hopper and chopped into a coarse mash.




Our cider press has two baskets. One can be filling with apple mash while the other is pressed into cider.




Nothing beats a drink of fresh cold cider.



The cider is strained and poured into jars and containers. Frozen cider keeps the fresh cider flavor, but because of freezer space, I can most of our portion of the cider. Canned cider tastes more like apple juice.



Do any of you make cider?

Spiced Pumpkin Bars

I didn't expect these bars to be that great since they contain no butter or oil but they were light and delicious!

Spiced Pumpkin Bars
another great find from Kay's Country Cookin'

2 cup flour
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 T baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
4 eggs
1 3/4 cup mashed pumpkin
1 cup applesauce

Combine dry ingredients. Combine egg, pumpkin, and applesauce; stir well. Stir in dry ingredients. Spread in greased 10x15 baking pan. Bake 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees. Do not over bake. Dust with powdered sugar when cooled, if desired.

Pumpkin Granola Cookies

Another new (to me) pumpkin recipe and another great find from the cookbook Around Grandma's Table, that I spoke of several weeks ago.These cookies may be on the "good-for-you" category but my children loved them. They would be the perfect lunch box treat.

Pumpkin Granola Cookies
from Around Grandma's Table (with my comments!)

2 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cup quick oats
1 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup mashed pumpkin
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped nuts, optional

Cream butter and sugars in large bowl; add egg and vanilla and beat until fluffy. Add  flour, oats, coconut, wheat germ, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and pumpkin. Beat well. Stir in raisins and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Flatten with spatula and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Do not stack cookies together until completely cool.

This recipe is rather adaptable. If you don't have an ingredient, feel free to substitute. I have used ground flax seed instead of wheat germ, sunflower seeds instead of nuts, and mini chocolate chips instead of raisins. Think about what tastes good in granola and be creative. The pumpkin makes these moist and yummy.

Review - Guiding the House

Do you need encouragement in organizing your home?

Am I the only one frantically waving my hand? Organization appears a goal that I will never fully meet.

Recently I had the privilege of reviewing Guiding the House, A Homemaker's Organizer of Days and Duties by Dianna Overholt. Designed as a tool to give a busy homemaker a place to record the practical details of her home, Guiding the House contains six tabbed sections and over a 180 pages of charts, forms, and inspiration.

Though I've never met Dianna Overholt, I feel like I know her from the pages of Keepers At Home magazine. Every issue, I flip through the pages to find Dianna's organization articles. Not only is Dianna full of practical advice but she humorously shares her own failures (like the mushroom found growing in her bathroom!) I was thrilled to hear that Dianna was designing an organizer for homemakers. At the beginning of each section of Guiding the House, Dianna shares encouragement and practical ideas.

I have a three-ring binder that has served as my homemaker binder for years. But it has become stuffed with all sorts of everything and is no longer useful. How refreshing to find a beautiful, well-designed planner all ready to fill out.



Though many of the pages in Guiding the House are specific (garden planning sheets, clothing inventory  menu planning, freezer inventory,  cleaning charts, etc) many of the pages are designed to be flexible. Dianna gives suggestions on how to use the pages but allows you to adapt them to work for you.



I even love the dandelion theme of the book, which reminds me to cheerfully serve where God has placed me.



Guiding the House also includes monthly and weekly pages dated for 2013 to be used as a planner or family diary.

Guiding the House is 10.5 by 8.5. The cost is $16.95 plus $4 shipping.

Dianna  is giving a $3 discount for orders placed before October 15th. Email her at ozarkfamilybooks@gmail.com

Guiding the House is also available from Amazon,  Living Waters in Canada, and Christian Light Publications. But you'll have to purchase from Dianna directly for the special discount.

Thanks, Dianna for allowing me to review your lovely organizer and introduce it to other homemakers!

Now if only there was an organizer that could clean out my freezer...

Pumpkin Pudding

This is a fun sweet treat to use my abundant squash supply.

Pumpkin Pudding
from Around Grandma's Table

2 cups cooked pumpkin 
3 cups milk, divided
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
2 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ginger
1 tsp vanilla

Heat pumpkin, 2 cups milk, and sugar together in pan on stove. Beat eggs and flour with remaining milk; add cinnamon, slat, and ginger. Add to hot pumpkin and stir over medium heat until thickened. Cool slightly and add vanilla. Serve warm or cold.