Baby Dutch Babies With Blueberries & Lemon Sugar

I am no exception.  So when my market had blueberries marked Buy One-Get One Free, I decided to buy two and get two free!  I love them and I eat them several times a week.  I’ve made these lovely Dutch pancakes a gazillion times.  But this time, I decided to make individual pancakes.  To me, they are a cross between a crepe and a pancake.  These are sweet little pancakes filled with luscious, plump, fresh blueberries and sprinkled with a sweet-tart, lemony sugar.

Don’t ask me how many I ate!  I only had a little taste of one.  Actually, a little taste of two.  Well . . . maybe a big taste of one.  Ok, maybe I ate one.  Or two.  Alright, alright!  I ate two!  I couldn’t help myself, they are sooooo good!

I guarantee, you will want more than one, also!

There are two key elements that make these Dutch babies so special.

1. You’ve got to have beautiful, plump, sweet blueberries. (Though raspberries and blackberries would be awesome, too!)
2. You CANNOT OMIT the lemon sugar.  It highlights the berries and is the spark of this little pancake.

Dare I even say, this is BETTER than PIE?!

In order for the pancake to rise well and remain light, you must preheat your baking dish.  But whether I make a large Dutch pancake in a cast iron skillet, or smaller versions in baking dishes, I always add butter during the preheating process.  The butter melts, and BROWNS, and who doesn’t love a brown butter Dutch baby?  Just look at how beautiful the edges of the crust are.

When your cute little pancakes come out of the oven, sprinkle them with the lemon sugar.  Add more fresh blueberries on top (sprinkled with a pinch of lemon sugar), and serve.  My berries were so juicy, I didn’t need to embellish with anything else.  But feel free to serve this with a little maple syrup, whipped cream or yogurt if you’d like.

What do I love most about this Dutch pancake recipe?

1. It’s ready in under 30 minutes.
2. The batter is made in a blender.
3. Clean up is easier.
4. For how simple it is, you get a lot of WOW for both appearance and taste.

P.S. . . . .

I didn’t have mini cast iron skillets, though I’ve seen them and they are really cute.  So in testing the various small dishes I had to bake these in, I found that shallow baking dishes work the best.  It allows the pancake to rise better up along the sides of the dish.  But even when I baked this in deeper dishes, like ramekins, it was JUST AS DELICIOUS, but more like a soufflé or a thicker pancake.  Take a look.

Baby Dutch Babies with Blueberries & Lemon Sugar

A sweet, light crepe-like pancake filled with plump fresh blueberries and sprinkled with tart lemon sugar.

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Place 4, 6 inch wide baking dishes on a baking sheet.
3. Place a teaspoon of butter in each dish and place the baking sheet in the oven for 10-15 minutes.
4. To make the lemon sugar, place the sugar and lemon zest in the bowl a spice grinder ( or food processor) and pulse until combined.
5. To make the batter, place the eggs, milk, flour, sugar, lemon zest, melted butter and salt in a blender.
6. Mix until the batter is combined.
7. Carefully remove the baking sheet from the oven. Brush the butter along the bottom and sides of your baking dishes.
8. Divide the batter between the dishes.
9. Toss ¼ cup of blueberries into each dish.
10. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the pancake is golden and puffed up along the sides of the dishes.
11. Sprinkle with lemon sugar, top with additional blueberries and serve immediately.