2 lg Cooking apples, such as
-Yellow Delicous or Granny-Smith
1 ts Vanilla extract
1 c Milk
1/2 ts Salt
1/4 c (1/2 stick) butter
1/4 ts Grated nutmeg
1 c All purpose flour
Confectioners sugar
Preheat oven to 475.
Peel, core, and very thinly slice the apples, you should have approximately 1-1/2 cups.
Melt 2 Tbsp. of the butter over medium low heat in a small fry pan, and saute the apples until they are just tender, about 3 minutes. Keep warm while preparing the batter.
Place a 9 or 10 inch cast iron skillet or very heavy ovenproof pan in the oven to heat for at least 5 minutes, the pan has to be very hot for this recipe to really work properly. When it is well heated, add the remaining 2 Tbsp. of butter to melt and put skillet back in oven; the butter should be very hot but not brown when you add the apples and batter.
While the skillet is heating, place the flour, milk, vanilla, salt and nutmeg in a blender, and whiz until smooth.
Remove the skillet from the oven, quickly arrange the warm apple slices over the melted butter, and pour the batter evenly over all. Bake for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 375 and bake 10 minutes longer.
The pancake will puff and climb up the sides of the pan. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar, then cut in wedges and serve with maple syrup and crisp bacon.
James is a conductor at the Crest at Fort Worth.
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