German Apple Pancakes

cookiedog's Note:

Almost like a cross between a north American pancake and a crepe. From Gourmet - originally published in 1952.

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 50 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 12 pancakes

• ¼ cup sugar , plus
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ cups whole milk
• 4 large eggs
• 1 ½ lbs gala apples (3 or 4)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• ½ cup unsalted butter , cut into 12 pieces

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 200°F.
2. Stir together 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon and set aside.
3. Whisk together flour, salt, and remaining 2 teaspoons sugar in a large bowl. Add milk in a slow stream, whisking, then add eggs, 1 at a time, whisking well after each addition.
4. Peel apples, then cut into 1/8-inch thick slices with slicer, rotating around core (discard core). Cut apple slices into 1/8-inch-thick matchsticks and toss with lemon juice in a bowl. Fold apples and juice into batter.
5. Heat 1 piece butter (1/2 tablespoon) in a 6-inch nonstick skillet over moderate heat until foam subsides, then add 1/3 cup batter, spreading evenly to cover bottom. Cook, reducing heat if browning too quickly and turning pancake over once with a thin flexible heatproof spatula, until golden on both sides, about 4 minutes total. Slide pancake onto a platter and keep warm in oven. Make more pancakes with remaining butter and batter in same manner. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and serve immediately.
6. Cooks' note:.
7. Batter, with apples, can be made 3 hours ahead and kept chilled, covered. Stir before using.

Reviews

[WiGal]

Danke Plätzchen-Hund zum ein wundervolles Frühstück! (Thank you Cookie Dog for a wonderful breakfast!) I grated peeled apple directly into the batter. Grated it b/c I thought apple would get done more and pancake flip easier. Made for the Unrulies Under the Influence for ZWT6.

[Mami J]

Very good! They taste almost like apple fritters. Not something I would do every day, but they are good for a breakfast treat. I used my mandoline to grate the apples and I didn't peel them. Do make sure to spread them out very thinly or they will be raw in the center. Thanks cookiedog! Made for the Swizzle Chicks and ZWT6, Germany/Benelux.

[sugarlovinmom]

We also grated the apples we used - red galas and green granny smith - very pretty and festiveas we did not peel them before we ran them through the grater. However - we could not get the crepes to set in the middle. It took 12 minutes or longer to get a set crepe, and we spread them as thick as we could get them. We would also decrease the apples a bit - used 8 med to small sized apples for a double batch, and would decrease that to only 5 or 6 next time. Also maybe try a fine grate instead of a course one to see if that would help the setting issue Also put the cinn/sugar mixture on the first side after flipping once while the underside was cooking to melt the sugar. They were good, once they were finally done.