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!

Baked Apple Pancakes

Back in my college days, I like many students, would use student loan money to go on fun trips with my friends.  Although I am still currently paying those trips off on my thirty year loan, all in all they were well worth it. 

One trip we took was to Chicago. My friend Shannon had a cousin who lived there and agreed to have four of us out to her place for an extended weekend. We went shopping on Michigan Ave, went to the top of the Sears Tower, hung out at Oktoberfest on the Navy Pier, checked out the Aquarium, the Life & Science Museum and, of course, went club/bar hopping every night. 

I have many, many great memories of out Chicago Girl Trip, but I also have four amazing food memories I took back with me.  The first being I ate at the Cheesecake Factory, my absolutely favorite restaurant, for the very first time.  Second, we had this fried onion appetizer at one of the bars we went to that was in the shape of a brick and it was simply amazing, as well as extremely fattening.  Third, I had one the best deep dish pizza's ever at a place called Duo's Pizza.  The sauce was on the top layer, which was nothing short of brillant in my opinion! 

The fourth food memory is what inspired my dish for today. Shannon's cousin took us out to the 'burb's to get breakfast at a place that was known for it's baked apple pancakes.  I wish I could remember the name of this place but, alas, I can't.  All I can say was it was amazing.  The pancake was probably the size of a pie, I mean this sucker was huge, and I ate the entire thing in no time without thing twice.

Baked German Apple Pancake with Nutmeg & Ginger adapted from cookincanuck

Ingredients:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
2/3 cup half-and-half
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/4 lb (3 to 4 large) Gala or Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch slices
3 tbsp packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
Powdered sugar

Directions:
1.  Preheat the oven to 500 degrees, make sure the oven rack is in the upper-middle position.
2.  In a large bowl, combine the flour, granulated sugar, salt, nutmeg, and ground ginger.
3.  In a medium bowl, whisk together half-and-half, eggs, and vanilla extract.
4.  Pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture and whisk until smooth.
5.  In a 10-inch cast iron skillet set over medium-high heat, melt in the butter.
6. Add the apples and brown sugar. Stir often until the apples are golden brown, about 10 minutes.
7. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in lemon juice.
8.  Pour the pancake batter around the edges of the pan and then over top of the apples.
9.  Place into the oven, turning the oven heat to 425 degrees. Bake until the pancake is brown and has risen above the edges, about 15 to 18 minutes.
10. Loosen up the edges of the pancake and place a serving plate on the skillet (be careful not to burn yourself) and turn the skillet upside down so the pancake falls out onto the plate. Sift a little powdered sugar over the top of the pancake and cut it into wedges. Serve while still hot.

This was super yummy. It is very similar to the dish I had in Chicago all those years ago. It was basically like eating an apple pie for breakfast, which is definitely not a bad thing at all! I think next time I will add some cinnamon to this dish as well.

I had one minor mishap while making my dish today.  I had just successfully flipped the pancake out of my cast iron skillet onto a plate when I noticed that there were a few bits of apple and pancake stuck on the skillet.  So I went to scrape the yummy bits out with my spatula, to nibble on, and instead I yelped in pain as I had very stupidly grabbed the piping hot handle on the skillet with my bare hands.  Rushing to the sink, I let the cold water run over my throbbing fingers when suddenly I recalled something I had read about once that was supposed to soothe burns.  Honey!  I drenched those suckers in ooey, gooey honey and to my amazement it actually worked.  My hand quit throbbing right away and after letting the honey sit on my fingers for about 20 minutes before I licked...er...washed the honey off, my fingers are as good as new.  No blisters or anything!!!