A hug goodbye to Winter

I am downright giddy about the coming signs of Spring.  Our daffodils have bloomed, the trees have buds and the sun is warming my face as I step outside.  As is typical in North Carolina in March, we get little glimpses of Spring, a Winter reprieve, and then boom, its Summer. When I lived up north, March was still very much Winter, and I was counting the days until Spring would show up in late April or May. This is certainly the time of year that I appreciate living in the South the most.

This morning, after waking up late because of daylight savings time and feeling already like I’d missed out on half of the day, I decided to stop beating myself up and embrace a lazy, end of Winter, Sunday morning. A fond farewell if you will.

This pancake casserole is so easy to make.  Almost all of the ingredients go into the blender and then the whole thing goes into the oven leaving time to make bacon (mmm…bacon) or catch up on email, or both.

This was adapted from a recipe for a Dutch Baby pancake – the kind that puffs up and looks impressive for a few minutes and then settles down and is buttery and delicious. It kind of skips the few impressive minutes and goes directly to the buttery deliciousness.  I’ll admit it, I love the exciting puffed presentation, and plan to continue working on that, but this is perfect in its own right.  I added an extra egg and a little more milk to the recipe because the GF Flour absorbs more liquid than wheat flour.  It’s important to make sure you pulse the blender a few times before pouring it into the pan to insure that it hasn’t separated whilst waiting to go into the oven.

Our family enjoyed sitting down and giving Winter a proper sendoff with a special brunch and some quiet moments before going back to the craziness of trying to recoup the hour we lost this morning.

Apple Cranberry Pancake Casserole (Gluten Free)

Prep time: <10 min.
Cook time: 22min.
Serves: 6

Ingredients

7 large eggs

1 ¾ cups skim milk, preferably organic

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 cup Gluten Free Flour Blend

2 Tbs. granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp. xanthan gum (omit if your flour blend has it in already)

Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

6 Tbs. unsalted butter, room temperature

4 apples -small dice

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1 tablespoon light-brown sugar

Cinnamon and Sugar to garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425°.

2. Combine eggs, milk, and vanilla in the jar of a blender. Blend until combined. Add flour blend, granulated sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and xanthan gum. Blend until dry ingredients are well incorporated; set aside.

3. Place butter in a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish. Transfer dish to oven and heat until butter has just melted. Carefully remove from oven and place apples and cranberries in a single layer in baking dish. Return to oven and cook until butter begins to bubble, about 5 minutes.

4. Pulse the blender a few more times to be sure that the ingredients didn’t separate. Pour batter over apples, sprinkle with brown sugar, and continue baking a golden crust has formed, about 22 minutes. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, if desired; serve immediately.

Notes

• This is adapted from a Puffed Pancake recipe – While it doesn’t quite puff the way it used to with wheat flour, it does rise and forms this delicious sweet crust.Adapted from: Martha Stewart
• If you can’t use xanthan gum, you can sub with psyllium husk powder or omit it.