Recipes

Dutch Bunny

The Dutch Bunny is a minor miracle. It's really nothing more than eggs, milk, butter, and flour baked in a hot oven. But if you've never made one, you're in for a surprise. The thin, liquid batter - much like popover or Yorkshire pudding batter - cooks quickly,producing lots of steam, and the result is an enormously puffed pancake with crusty brown edges, a soft egg center, and a rich and buttery flavor.

There's really nothing Dutch (or, for that matter, bunnylike) about Dutch Bunnies. In fact, they were brought to America by early German settlers. Their name is probably a corruption of deutsch and possibly Pfanne, the German word for pan. The traditional German version is made with apples, and we've provided that variation as well.

A Dutch Bunny makes a nice finish to a light brunch. It's also fun to serve as a late evening snack (we recommend it with champagne on New Year's Eve) and it's just the thing to whip up for unexpected guests. Few recipes this simple deliver such stunning results from such basic ingredients.

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 3/4 cups milk
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• Confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Beat the eggs and milk until they are well blended. Add the flour and salt all at once, stirring just to combine. The batter will be slightly lumpy.

Melt the butter in a 12-inch skillet with an ovenproof handle or in a 9-by-13-inch oval baking dish. When the butter is very hot, pour in the batter, transfer the pan to the oven, and bake for 20 minutes or until the pancake is golden brown and puffed.

Assemble the guests and bring the pancake to the table immediately (the pancake will begin to deflate quickly). Sprinkle the pancake with lemon juice and confectioners' sugar. Cut into wedges; serve with maple syrup or fruit preserves (apricot is particularly good).

Dutch Babies

Divide the recipe above among four 6-inch pans. Bake for about 15 minutes.

Excerpted from The Pancake Handbook, Ten Speed Press, 1993, 1994 by Stephen Siegelman, Sue Conley and Bette Kroening.

Serves 2 to 4