If my Instagram feed is any indication, Dutch baby pancakes have soared in popularity during these last few weeks in quarantine. But in my household, our obsession is far from new. My 5-year-old has been enamored of Dutch babies for years! It’s the most thrilling breakfast either of us know how to make — a super-hot pan and fluffy batter create a magic puff in the oven, resulting in a crispy-creamy pancake big enough for all of us.

Whipping up a Dutch baby together has become a weekly ritual, and we don’t wait until the weekend to make it happen: I pinkie-promise that Dutch baby pancakes are so easy and quick that you can make them on a weekday morning. Here’s how to do it.

My family’s strategy for weekday morning Dutch babies

Dutch baby pancakes, with their impressive puff and dusting of powdered sugar, are fancy-seeming dishes but deceptively simple. The batter, which can be mixed up in advance, is just eggs, milk, sugar, flour, a splash of vanilla and a pinch of salt. Memorizing the recipe portions has helped speed up the process for me, but even if it’s your first go-round, prep time still clocks in at just 10 minutes.

To make Dutch babies a reality on weekday mornings, we mix up the batter in a small smoothie blender. (This means I don’t have to drag out the food processor or our heavy-duty blender, which, to be honest, I don’t like doing on the weekends, either.) We also add the ingredients in a slightly different order so that I can dirty just one measuring cup: The two eggs go in first, followed by 1/2 cup flour, a pinch of salt, and a spoonful of sugar. Then, I use the same measuring cup to measure 1/2 cup milk (in this case, it doesn’t make a difference whether you use a wet or dry measuring cup for the milk).

We let the batter rest in the blender while we pop a cast iron skillet in the oven and crank it up to 425 F. The oven takes about 20 minutes to get to temperature — we use this time to get dressed, brush our teeth, or just watch an episode of “Paw Patrol.”

When the pan is hot, we add a knob of butter and give the batter a quick buzz again in the blender, which helps it puff in the oven, before pouring it into the hot pan. In the time it takes for the Dutch baby to bake (just 15 minutes), we chop some strawberries or bananas for topping. (If you have a 5-year-old, you already know that 15 minutes is easy to fill with chopping practice).

Out of the oven, we cover the Dutch baby with powdered sugar and serve up slices with the chopped fruit and more “Paw Patrol” or a quick game of Uno. This easy breakfast feels like a treat to my kids, but it has a little more protein than traditional pancakes and takes a fraction of the time than it takes to flip a whole batch (and way less hands-on cooking time). But if you have the time, you can use the following traditional recipe for Dutch babies.

Dutch Baby Pancakes

(Recipe by Emma Christensen)

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