I would estimate that the most hyped cookbook of 2012 was The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. It was pre-released literally six months before it was actually available. As a rule, I don’t really buy things six months in advance unless that thing can carry me across the country in the air.

But eventually I did buy it and guess what, I was able to get a copy even though I ordered it after it was actually available.

Of course, I doubt that Deb (who’s blog I seriously enjoy along with millions of other food lovers) wanted to release her book six months before it was available. It was probably the publisher’s decision so they could build some serious hype around the book. And build hype they did!

In fact, they built so much hype that at some point I started to seriously doubt that the book would live up to the hype.

Personally, I’m not sure that the book is my style. I’m not a huge baker or sweet tooth and a lot of the recipes are on the sweeter side. But I love her writing. It’s funny and sincere and you can tell she really spent a lot of time crafting the recipes.

One of the recipes that snagged my eye the first time I flipped through the book was this Gingerbread Dutch Baby recipe. A cross between a pancake and a crepe? I’ll take it!

As expected, the recipe was pretty much flawless and worked like a charm even though I used the wrong size pan and didn’t follow it 100%.

Gingerbread Dutch Baby

5 from 2 votes
Author: Nick Evans
Servings: 2 Servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
A spiced dutch baby that’s a cross between a pancake and a crepe. A quick and delicious breakfast or bunch idea from macheesmo.com

Ingredients 

  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon molasses
  • cup all-purpose flour
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • Pinch of ground ginger
  • Pinch of ground cloves
  • Pinch of fresh grated nutmeg
  • Pinch of salt
  • cup milk
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • Maple syrup, serving
  • Powdered sugar, serving

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
  • Add eggs to a blender and pulse until they are light in color. Add all other ingredients except butter and toppings and pulse until combined.
  • Heat a 9-12 inch heavy pan (cast iron works well) on the stove over medium-high heat. Add butter and melt.
  • WHen butter is bubbling and melted, pour in batter.
  • Transfer pan to oven and bake for 15 minutes until edges are browned and pancake is puffed.
  • Slide pancake out of pan and cut in half. Serve with powdered sugar and syrup.

Nutrition

Serving: 1Dutch Baby | Calories: 297kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.5g | Cholesterol: 199mg | Sodium: 83mg | Potassium: 208mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 654IU | Vitamin C: 0.01mg | Calcium: 96mg | Iron: 2mg
Course: Breakfast & Brunch, Main Dishes

Did you make this recipe?

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Gingerbread Dutch Baby

A Simple Batter

The entire directions for this Gingerbread Dutch Baby recipe occupy just a small paragraph. It’s seriously easy and all you need to make the batter is a blender.

blender - Gingerbread Dutch Baby
Don’t blend the shells, people.

There’s a bunch of very precise measurements for the spices in the recipe. Some are supposed to be an eighth of a teaspoon and some are supposed to be a “pinch”. I’m not sure what the difference is so I just added a pinch of all of the spices and it was delicious.

spices for Gingerbread Dutch Baby
Assorted spices.

Add the eggs, sugar, and molasses to the blender and pulse until the eggs are mixed well. Then toss in all the other ingredients.

mixed spice for Gingerbread Dutch Baby
Batter in the blender.

Blend blend blend and your batter is done!

Couldn’t be easier.

done Gingerbread Dutch Baby batter
About as easy as it gets.

Cooking the Baby

The recipe calls for a 9-inch pan but my cast iron skillet is 12 inches so I just used it. I think you can safely use either sized pan. The important part is to make sure your oven is preheated to 400 degrees and heat your pan over medium-high heat on the stove. Melt the butter in the pan and make sure the pan and sides are well-covered.

Then pour in the batter! If you can get your blender to levitate like I did… even better.

pour in the batter - Gingerbread Dutch Baby
Cool action shot.

As soon as the batter is poured in the pan, stick the whole thing in the oven and bake if for about 15 minutes.

When it comes out, it will be slightly puffed and browned around the edges. It’s a thing of beauty really.

cooked Gingerbread Dutch Baby
Done deal.

Lots of powdered sugar is important.

sugared Gingerbread Dutch Baby
Sugared.

One of these large pancakes will serve two people.

Cut it in half and slap it on a plate with lots of syrup and more sugar.

I actually prefer this Gingerbread Dutch Baby to a pancake because of the different textures. The outside is crispy and the inside is tender.

Gingerbread Dutch Baby from macheesmo.com
Yum.

This Gingerbread Dutch Baby was a delicious and simple recipe. I have a few others in the book earmarked that I want to try also, but I probably won’t post them.

Based on the rather huge number of copies that have sold for this book, I’m assuming that some of you have it.

What do you think? Did it live up to the hype for you?