German Pancake Dutch Baby with Apricot and Raspberry

Steven and I bought a half flat of the biggest raspberries wed ever seen from our local berry stand. Were lucky enough to live blocks away from the only Seattle location of the Spooner Farms berry stand. One more reason why I love our neighborhood. Raspberry season is coming to a close in Washington state and they will eventually be replaced by blueberries and blackberries. If you live in the North Seattle area or close to any of the other locations, I recommend you check out Spooner Farms and stock up on these amazing raspberries while you still can.

Between the car ride home and breakfast, we polished off one half pint. Any suggestions for what I should do with the remaining 5 half pints?

Steven and I aren’t big breakfast people but when I do make breakfast, I go all out. Bacon and eggs usually make an appearance, sometimes I do waffles, sometimes pancakes, and sometimes I get crazy and put everything together. The German pancake, also called Dutch Baby, is like a crepe crossed with a popover. Its ridiculously easy to make (the batter is made in under 2 minutes in a blender) and is always a crowd pleaser. Watching the pancake puff up before your very eyes is always entertaining. You can add fresh fruit to the batter, add it on top after baking ,or go crazy and do both! Then you have the option of topping it with the more traditional squeeze of fresh lemon juice and powdered sugar or simply drizzle on the maple syrup, for the syrup lovers.

If youre using a cast iron skillet, youll need to preheat it longer than a cake pan. Put the skillet into the oven before turning it on and let it preheat in the oven for a good 20 minutes. This will give you enough time to make some coffee, get your ingredients together, and set up the blender.

German Pancake with Raspberries and Apricot
3 eggs
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 C all purpose flour
1/2 C milk
3 Tbsp butter
Optional: 1 apricot sliced up and 1/3 C raspberries

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and put a cast iron skillet (if using) into the oven to heat up.

After about 15 - 20 minutes (or longer if your oven is slow), the skillet should be hot. Add the butter to the skillet and return it to the oven. If youre using a cake pan, add the butter to the cake pan and put it into the oven.

Add 3 eggs and the sugar to blender and blend on low speed for 1 minutes. The eggs should be light colored and bubbly. Then add the flour and milk and blend for 10 seconds, until evenly mixed.

Take the skillet or cake pan out of the oven and make sure the butter has completely melted. Pour the batter into the hot skillet or pan and scatter the fruit on top of the batter if using.

Bake at 425 degrees F for 18 - 22 minutes, or until the sides and middle have puffed up and browned.

Serve with fresh fruit and a lemon slice and powdered sugar or maple syrup.

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Raspberry Lemon Cream Tart

Whoops! Only had 2 minutes to take pics and forgot to take the tart out of the pan.

Short and sweet recipe post today! I still had some cream cheese leftover from the wedding and the giant 3 pound Costco tub was taking up valuable fridge space. I was trying to do something with it but couldnt manage to use all of it. Then I made way too much filling for one tart shell so now not only is the gargantuan tub still sitting in the fridge, but I also have a container of whipped filling taking up even more room. Crap! Now Ill have to think of something else to use up the whipped filling but honestly Ill probably just end up eating it with some fresh fruit.

Too bad I didnt get a photo of the sliced tart because the hidden layer of raspberry jam is a nice surprise-an idea I took from Dorie Greenspans Hidden Berry Cheesecake. Speaking of which, I bet this recipe would work just as well with blackberry jam and fresh blackberries.

Raspberry and Lemon Cream Tart
1 Prebaked Sweet Tart Crust
2 oz. cream cheese
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 C heavy cream or whipping cream
1/4 C lemon curd
1/4 C raspberry jam, preferably seedless
1 C fresh raspberries

I scaled the recipe down to make enough filling for one tart. Depending on the sweetness of your lemon curd, you may want to use less sugar. I was using store-bought lemon curd (Trader Joes makes a good one) and its very sweet so I used 2 tablespoons of sugar. Homemade lemon curd is more tangy so you may need to use 3 tablespoons of sugar.

With a whisk attachment, using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar on medium high speed until fluffy. Slowly drizzle in the whipping cream and whip until stiff peaks form. Fold in the lemon curd.

Spread the raspberry jam on the bottom of the baked tart shell. Then add the lemon cream cheese mixture. Top with raspberries and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes before serving.

Prebaked Flaky Pate Sucree
for an 8 or 9 inch pan

1 C flour
1/3 C confectioners sugar
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tbsp cold butter, cut into 6 pieces
1 egg yolk
2 Tbsp cold milk or ice water
1/2 tsp of vanilla

Add the flour, confectioners sugar, and salt together in a food processor and pulse once or twice to combined. Add the pieces of butter and pulse until the butter pieces are no bigger than a pea. Alternatively use a fork or pastry cutter to cut in the butter, or freeze the butter and coarsely grate it then use your fingers and rub the pieces into the flour. It is very important to keep the butter cold otherwise it will melt and make the crust greasy and youll lose all the flaky layers.

Mix the egg yolk, milk, and vanilla together. Drizzle the mixture over the butter and flour mix in the food processor. Pulse again until the dough start to form large clumps. If it looks too dry add a little more milk.

Scrape the dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap and press the clumps together to form a disc. Wrap the dough in the plastic wrap and chill at least an hour up to overnight. Or store it in the freezer for as long as you want.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Lightly flour a work surface and rolling pin and roll out the dough to into a large circle. Move the crust around often to make sure it doesnt stick to your work surface.

Transfer the dough to an 8 or 9 inch tart pan. To make this easier, drape the dough over the rolling pin and lay it over the pan. Lift the edges of the crust and gently press the dough down into the pan. Roll over the top of the pan with a rolling pin to trim any overhanging dough.

Prick the surface of the dough with a fork. Press a sheet of aluminum foil onto a crust and add pie weights, beans, or clean pennies on top. I like using pennies because they are the best heat conductor. Bake on the middle rack for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and baking weights (be careful the weights will be very hot!) and return the crust to the oven to bake for another 10 or so minutes until it is golden. Cool to room temperature before filling

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