Maple Bacon & Cheddar Oven Pancake

The recipe I decided on for tonight's dinner wasn't due to any past memories of people or places.  I decided on this dish because I needed to get rid of some eggs and bacon that were about to expire in my fridge.   It is as simple as that.  I did have a dish in mind though.  One that I had been wanting to try since I saw a friend of mine tweet about eating bacon pancakes months ago.  (Inspiration from twitter, who'd of thunk it?)  I thought it was such a brillant concept.  Bacon and pancakes go hand in hand in my life anyway.  I always have to have a couple of slices of bacon when I eat a pancake, which I swirl around and, to be quite frank, drench in maple syrup.  Oh my but that sweet & salty combo is just simply fabulous, don'tcha think?

I did a quick search on Google to find ideas on just how I should make this dish.  The second recipe that came up on my search was the one I knew I had to try, although I did decide to modify it a bit from the original recipe.

Maple Bacon & Cheddar Oven Pancake modified from chefjulie1

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup cheddar cheese
6 slices thick cut bacon


Directions:
1.  Set oven to 375F, line rimmed baking sheet with foil and bake bacon for 20 minutes.  (I am obsessed with baking bacon in the oven, I can simply leave it alone and clean up is super easy since all you do is toss the foil away!)
2.  While the bacon is cooking, whisk first five ingredients in a large bowl until combined.  Mix in eggs, milk, maple syrup and 3/4 cup cheese until well blended.  Pour mixture into a buttered cast iron skillet, turn heat on oven down to 350 and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes clean from the center. (Bacon should be done now, I let it cool for a bit, soaked up some of the grease off it and then crumbled it up.)
3.   Add the bacon and cheese over the top of the pancake and bake until cheese melts, about 2 minutes.
4.  Allow to cool, cut into wedges and serve with maple syrup.

Such divine yumminess, you are my new favorite pancake!

I indulged big time on this dish.  I had two huge wedges, it was just so darn good I couldn't resist.  My hubby had four slices.  He loved it too, although I think he was a bit unsure what to think about it at first, but that first bite just reels you in.  He had worked up quite an appetite since he is currently in the process of painting our countertops.  Yes, you heard correctly.  He saw this paint advertised on Good Morning America or one of those shows anyway.  It makes your counters look like granite.  I was skeptical at first too but we had awful horrid colored countertops and if this didn't work, it would give us a good excuse to get some new ones.  If it did work, then all the better for us.    

 It is still a work in progress, but it looks really good so far. I will post another photo when it is completely finished!