The best part of making the recipe below is watching it puff up nice and golden in the oven. But it tastes pretty darned good, too. Apples are lightly sautéed before a sweet and smooth batter gets poured over top of them and it all goes into the oven to bake. A little bit of powdered sugar on top when it's ready to eat and it's all the goodness of pancakes and apple pie all in one.
The pancake will start to deflate as soon as it comes out of the oven, but that won't detract from the taste anyway. It's light and fluffy with bits of tender apples spread throughout. And you can't forget about the sweet and spicy aroma of cinnamon that waft through it - and through your house as it's baking! It doesn't take that long to pull together either, making it the perfect breakfast dish.
Cinnamon and Apple Pancake Casserole
4
10 minutes
30 minutes
40 minutes
2 tablespoons butter
4 cups Granny Smith apples, peeled and diced (about 4 apples)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Powdered sugar, for dusting
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Melt the butter in a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. When melted, add the apples and cook for about 5 minutes, until they've just started to soften. Sprinkle the brown sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon over top and stir to combine.
While the apples are cooking whisk together the eggs, milk, flour, vanilla, and salt until all ingredients are fully incorporated. When the apples have been combined with cinnamon and other ingredients, pour the batter over the apples in the hot pan.
Place the cast iron skillet in the preheated oven and bake for 40 to 45 minutes until the pancake is puffy and golden. Remove from the oven and dust with powdered sugar before serving.