Recipe: Caramelized Apple Dutch Baby

Carmelized Apple Dutch Baby on a plate.

Happy New Year! We’re living in the future! Well, actually the present. But that number — 2020. It seems like the future. Like when we were going from 1999 to 2000. It’s really just one day apart, but mentally it feels like a big jump. Going from one century to the next and one decade to the next. Also, now we’re really deep into the 21st century. It feels big.

So I decided to begin this first morning of the year and decade by doing something that I’ve been planning to do for quite some time. I made a Dutch baby for breakfast. These German pancakes were the darling of the food blogger world for many years. As I was reading yesterday, the main character in the novel just happened to make one. That sealed it for me.

A Dutch baby is similar to a popover, which I have made before. The dramatic thing about both is that they puff up without using any leavening. When I made popovers, they puffed up.

The Dutch baby did not puff. I have to admit that I was disappointed. Now I realize that the instructions in the recipe that I used didn’t stress using a blender or electric hand mixer to combine the ingredients. That vigorous mixing would have added more air prompting the puff. I forgot about this until looking at my popover recipe. Next time I’ll remember.

Also, just to let you know about the coloring. I keep a mixture of white flour combined with other healthier flours (ingredients) for better nutrition. The current combination is coffee flour and flaxseed meal. So the brown color of the Dutch baby might not be the same if you use plain white flour.

I’ve adapted this recipe from one on the blog Simply Scratch. Let me know if you try it and Happy New Year! 🎉

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Single Serving Caramelized Apple Dutch Baby

INGREDIENTS:

Caramelized Apples:

  • 1 apple cut up
  • 1 T butter
  • 2 T brown sugar

Dutch Baby:

  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1 T sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
  • pinch salt
  • 1 T butter (for the skillet)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Put the butter in a small skillet on medium heat and coat the sides. Add the apples and brown sugar. Stir and cook the apples for about 10 minutes. They will become tender and caramelized.

While the apples are cooking, combine the ingredients for the Dutch baby in a blender or use an electric mixer in a small bowl. Stirring with a whisk or a spoon is fine, but unless you whisk for longer than I did, it won’t be enough to get a lot of air into the mixture so that it will puff up in the oven.

Put the butter in a medium cast iron skillet on medium heat and coat the sides. When the butter sizzles, pour the batter into the pan and place in oven for 15 minutes.

Remove from the pan with a spatula and place on a large plate. Pour the apples on the Dutch baby. Sprinkle cinnamon and powdered sugar over the top. Enjoy!

Recipe: Single Serving Nutella S’More

single serving nutella s'more This isn’t much of a recipe, because it’s only three ingredients and I made none of them. But Nutella is always a good place to start.

It is a recipe, if you believe that a recipe can have cake mix as an ingredient. Which I do not. But let’s just go with it for now.

If like me, you have some random graham crackers, marshmallows and Nutella, then you can make assemble this single serving snack.

It’s rather precarious and gooey. Will probably crumble apart and you’ll need to lick your fingers. But it is just one serving and you’ll be making it in the privacy of your own home, so who’s gonna judge you?

To soften up this caramel covered marshmallow, I punctured it with a wooden kabob skewer and rotated it over the flame on top of my gas stove. Some parts caught fire and got singed. No worries.

I plopped it on a graham cracker. Slathered Nutella on top. Then I ate it. Maybe it’s not a recipe, but it was fun.

Have a good weekend!

Recipe: Single Serving Toffee Bits Cookies

single serving toffee bits cookies

One of my favorite things in life is dessert. I wish I didn’t have such a sweet tooth. But I do. And I indulged on my trip to Nantucket early this week.

For the past few days, I’ve tried to get back to much healthier eating. But I wanted a little bit of dessert today and cannot trust myself with baking a full recipe with a few dozen cookies. So it was time to bring back Desserts With Borders!

If you’re a new reader, my Desserts With Borders series is where I create recipes for single serving desserts. I take a regular recipe and shrink it down so that it’s a small portion and there are no leftovers. So it would be like if I went to a bakery and bought a few small cookies or one muffin.

It’s cheaper to bake at home. Not that any dessert is healthy, but when I create the recipe, I know all the ingredients in these desserts and I’m at least aware of what I’m eating and can adapt the recipe to fit my preferences. Plus, these recipes are fun to do and make me happy.

So, the last time that I made a single serving dessert was waaaay back in February. It was time! This cookie recipe took in total about 20 minutes to make. That’s not too long a time if you get a sudden craving for a few cookies. I loved these and hope you try them too. If you do, please let me know!

Single Serving Toffee Bits Cookies

Ingredients + Instructions

  • 3 T butter
  • 1 heaping T brown sugar
  • 1 heaping T sugar
  • 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
  • scant 1/8 tsp. baking powder
  • scant 1/8 tsp. baking soda
  • scant 1/8 tsp. salt
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • 1 T toffee bits

Set aside a small cookie sheet and use a small piece of parchment paper. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. I used a toaster oven and the little pan that came with it.

Combine ingredients in a small bowl until you have smooth dough. I used a tablespoon to make five small cookies. You could make two or three bigger cookies if you like or one mega cookie. I might try the mega cookie next time!

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 – 12 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for about 5 minutes. Use a spatula to turn cookies over onto a plate. Eat and enjoy!