Dutch Baby

On December 21, 2023December 21, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn baked, ColumnLeave a comment

If you want a Christmas morning breakfast that comes together quickly, can feed a crowd, and looks like a special treat (even though you could make it any morning you aren’t rushing out the door), look no further than the baked pancake recipe I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. Known as a Dutch baby (or “Dutch babies,” as we always say it in my family), this puffy, family-style pancake looks as impressive as a souffle when it comes out of the oven yet is far easier to prepare.

The dreaded collapse of a souffle is actually welcome here. It leaves part of the pancake high and slightly crisp, part creamy like custard, and all perfect for serving with an array of toppings. You can scale up the recipe for as many servings as you need and gather around the table to enjoy it or balance it on your lap (perhaps served in a shallow bowl) beside the tree.
Learn to make Dutch Baby

Adapting Breakfasts

On April 9, 2020December 27, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Freezing, Topic, UsingLeave a comment

Working from home, my first meal of the day is healthy, varied, and enjoyable. Get breakfast recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
If you’ve been staying home these last few weeks, one of the biggest changes to the way you eat may be at breakfast. If you have a job outside the home, or kids to get to school, or a daily routine that start with a gym or other leave-the-house activity, you likely rush out the door with little thought for breakfast—or perhaps no food in your belly. Cooked breakfasts, and particularly family breakfasts, might be reserved for weekends or even holidays. If you want to turn staying at home to your advantage, using it to break old habits and improve routines, I can’t think of a better place to start than the first meal of the day.

That doesn’t mean you need to wake up in the morning ready to spend hours slaving in the kitchen while your family eyes you hungrily. If “slaving” is the word that comes to mind over preparing any meal, then something is out of sync. And just because you’re at home doesn’t mean you have any more time to cook breakfast than you would normally. But it does mean you have access to a fuller kitchen than is found in your car or corporate office, and you have at least some ability to stock it with a wider variety foods than will fit in your day bag or desk drawer.

As someone who has worked from home for years, I’ve found plenty of ways to make my first meal of the day healthy, varied, and enjoyable. Here are some of my go-to breakfasts at home.
Learn to make pantry breakfasts and Improv Smoothies

Beyond Pancakes

On November 13, 2018December 1, 2019 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, Topic2 Comments

My family adores pancakes of all types, whether fried or baked. Get pancake recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
Say “pancake,” and Americans usually visualize tall stacks of round, freshly fried batter, dripping with butter and maple syrup and often made from a prepackaged mix. But every culture seems to have its equivalent, and many require so few, and such common, ingredients that they can be made straight from the pantry.

My family adores pancakes. My mom put together a cookbook of family recipes in 1990, printed on her dot-matrix machine and bound with plastic combs. It includes Linda’s Pancake Mix, a recipe from a family friend that features oats, corn, wheat, and powdered milk and was my mom’s go-to blend throughout my childhood. But it also includes Æbleskivers, Danish pancakes that remind me of holeless yeast donuts but are cooked in a special pan. They were my grandfather’s specialty; my sister inherited his pan, and my niece and nephew dip them in copious amounts of Nutella. My mom’s cookbook also holds recipes for Southern Spoonbread, a cornmeal-based baked “pancake” that’s closer to a soufflé and that we considered a dinner dish, and Dutch Babies, its flour-based breakfast counterpart that puffs beautifully, causing us all to claim a corner as it emerges from the oven. If I were to put out a new edition of Mom’s cookbook today, I would add crepes and their Russian variation, blini.
Learn to make Dutch Babies and Mushroom-Stuffed Blini