GF German Apple Pancake

My friends Andy & Elisabeth host a fantastic annual Easter potluck which always draws in a great group of friends.  It's been interesting to watch their brunch evolve over the years from a mostly adult gathering with the highlight of the party being the spray painted beer can hunt to it now being a much more kid-centric event with more emphasis these days on the Easter egg hunt (although the beer can hunt is still quite popular).  Another bonus of potlucks at Andy & Elisabeth's is that they usually have good gluten-free options.  While Elisabeth isn't gluten-free per se, she does have a wheat allergy.  Besides wheat, gluten is also found in barley and rye... and then it is present certain things that you wouldn't necessarily expect such as soy sauce.  But since I'm just gluten-intolerant and not Celiac, I find that small amounts of gluten every once in awhile is manageable.

The last time I made the GF German Apple Pancake was for a New Years brunch at my friend Brook's just a little over three months ago.  The best part of Brook's brunch was she dug out all these fun fabics and trim, put them on the table and put us to work creating New Years hats....

Back then, there was only about 4 hours of daylight and the temperature was somewhere down near -40˚ F.  I was afraid to linger too long at brunch since I didn't want my car to freeze up too badly.  But now it's Spring!  or more accurately... the season we call "Breakup".  While most people from the Lower 48 wouldn't recognize this as Spring with heaps of snow still around and at least a month until the leaves come out on the trees,

three months has made quite a difference-- now we're close 14 1/2 hours of daylight and gaining about 7 minutes a day.  Temperatures are well above freezing during the day and things are melting...

and get muddy.

Most of the snow that was built up on my roof has already come crashing down and folks around town are shedding their winter layers-- as soon as it hits about 20˚ F, you'll usually see guys walking around in shorts.

When I started baking gluten-free, I started seeking out recipes that I could easily swap out regular flour for gluten-free flour.  This is a great one because it has a lot of eggs in it, so you don't really need to worry about adding Xanthan gum or having it turn out overly crumbly. Of course, non-gluten-free folks can make this recipe with regular flour.

When making this recipe, I use Mexican vanilla-- which I always stock up on whenever I swing through El Paso because it's so darn good.  Just the smell is intoxicatingly delicious.  And once you start grating fresh nutmeg, the powdered stuff just can't compete...

GF German Apple Pancake

Ingredients

Batter
4 eggs 
1/2 cup unbleached gluten-free flour (I use Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Baking Flour)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
1 tablespoon sugar 
1 pinch salt 
1 cup milk 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 


In the Skillet
1/4 cup unsalted butter 
1/2 cup white sugar, divided 
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 large tart apple - peeled, cored and sliced 

Directions

Batter (prepare the night before)

In a bowl with a cover, mix together the eggs, flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.

Stir in the milk

Add 2 tablespoons of melted butter

Finally, add the vanilla and nutmeg.

Once it's all mixed, cover the batter and let it sit over night in the refrigerator.  I don't know how absolutely necessary this step is since I've made the batter the same day as baking the pancake and let it sit for only ~ 1/2 hour, and it turned out fine.

In the Skillet (the day of)

Preheat the oven to 425˚ F

In a big cast iron skillet (10 inch or so? I think mine might be 12 inch...) melt the 1/4 cup of butter over medium high heat, add the sugar, cinnamon, and more freshly grated nutmeg and let it began to bubble.  Add the slices of apples to the butter-sugar-spice mix.

I try to place the apples in a lovely pattern, but usually it just get jumble anyways when I pour in the batter.  And don't forget to give the batter a stir first before pouring it in since it will have settle overnight.

Bake at in the oven at 425˚ F for 15 minutes,

then reduce the oven temperature to 375˚ F and bake for another 10 minutes.