I would estimate that the most hyped cookbook of 2012 was The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. It was pre-released literally six months before it was actually available. As a rule, I don’t really buy things six months in advance unless that thing can carry me across the country in the air.
But eventually I did buy it and guess what, I was able to get a copy even though I ordered it after it was actually available.
Of course, I doubt that Deb (who’s blog I seriously enjoy along with millions of other food lovers) wanted to release her book six months before it was available. It was probably the publisher’s decision so they could build some serious hype around the book. And build hype they did!
In fact, they built so much hype that at some point I started to seriously doubt that the book would live up to the hype.
Personally, I’m not sure that the book is my style. I’m not a huge baker or sweet tooth and a lot of the recipes are on the sweeter side. But I love her writing. It’s funny and sincere and you can tell she really spent a lot of time crafting the recipes.
One of the recipes that snagged my eye the first time I flipped through the book was this Gingerbread Dutch Baby recipe. A cross between a pancake and a crepe? I’ll take it!
As expected, the recipe was pretty much flawless and worked like a charm even though I used the wrong size pan and didn’t follow it 100%.
Gingerbread Dutch Baby
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon molasses
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch of ground ginger
- Pinch of ground cloves
- Pinch of fresh grated nutmeg
- Pinch of salt
- ⅓ cup milk
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Maple syrup, serving
- Powdered sugar, serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Add eggs to a blender and pulse until they are light in color. Add all other ingredients except butter and toppings and pulse until combined.
- Heat a 9-12 inch heavy pan (cast iron works well) on the stove over medium-high heat. Add butter and melt.
- WHen butter is bubbling and melted, pour in batter.
- Transfer pan to oven and bake for 15 minutes until edges are browned and pancake is puffed.
- Slide pancake out of pan and cut in half. Serve with powdered sugar and syrup.
Notes
Nutrition
Did you make this recipe?
Gingerbread Dutch Baby
A Simple Batter
The entire directions for this Gingerbread Dutch Baby recipe occupy just a small paragraph. It’s seriously easy and all you need to make the batter is a blender.
There’s a bunch of very precise measurements for the spices in the recipe. Some are supposed to be an eighth of a teaspoon and some are supposed to be a “pinch”. I’m not sure what the difference is so I just added a pinch of all of the spices and it was delicious.
Add the eggs, sugar, and molasses to the blender and pulse until the eggs are mixed well. Then toss in all the other ingredients.
Blend blend blend and your batter is done!
Couldn’t be easier.
Cooking the Baby
The recipe calls for a 9-inch pan but my cast iron skillet is 12 inches so I just used it. I think you can safely use either sized pan. The important part is to make sure your oven is preheated to 400 degrees and heat your pan over medium-high heat on the stove. Melt the butter in the pan and make sure the pan and sides are well-covered.
Then pour in the batter! If you can get your blender to levitate like I did… even better.
As soon as the batter is poured in the pan, stick the whole thing in the oven and bake if for about 15 minutes.
When it comes out, it will be slightly puffed and browned around the edges. It’s a thing of beauty really.
Lots of powdered sugar is important.
One of these large pancakes will serve two people.
Cut it in half and slap it on a plate with lots of syrup and more sugar.
I actually prefer this Gingerbread Dutch Baby to a pancake because of the different textures. The outside is crispy and the inside is tender.
This Gingerbread Dutch Baby was a delicious and simple recipe. I have a few others in the book earmarked that I want to try also, but I probably won’t post them.
Based on the rather huge number of copies that have sold for this book, I’m assuming that some of you have it.
Whitney @ The Newlywed Chefs
Hi Nick! We LOVE Smitten Kitchen! Can’t wait to try this recipe- I’ve never had a dutch baby before!
Mark
Just made her cookbook recipe for Huevos Rancheros with Lime Crema yesterday for dinner (Br-inner?, as it was more brunchy) and oh damn it was good. I’d recco you try that one as it seems up your alley and was way freakin easy.
Nick
Nice Mark. That sounds pretty firmly up my alley. :)
Meg @ www.ourwaytoeat.com
Before Christmas I wrote a “split second review” of this book. Confession: I still don’t own it yet. For two reasons: When you’ve got a blog you can visit, it a “why buy the cow when you can get the horse for free?” sort of feeling. Also, all that hype on this book, Small Plates and Sweet Treats by Aran Goyaga, and La Tartine Gourmande by Beatrice Peltre was a turn off. The good thing about the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook is, I just don’t think Deb sold out. She’s still writing from the heart and producing a great blog, not just a constant constant commercial for her book, foodstyling classes as what have you. Deb’s got such a great voice, even if I rarely try her recipes, she keeps me coming back for inspiration. Here’s my little review: http://ourwaytoeat.com/2012/12/09/my-year-in-meals-by-rachael-ray-and-the-smitten-kitchen-cookbook-by-deb-perelman-split-second-review-on-a-trip-through-barnes-and-noble/
Nick
Great review Meg! That RR book sounds pretty gross!
Holly
How much cinnamon?
Nick
haha… right. Teaspoon. :)
Jeanne
Love Smitten Kitchen. I bought three copies of the book. One for each daughter and one for myself. All three of us are enjoying her recipes. Deb’s recipes are original, thoughtful and delicious. Many food blogs are reiterations of someone else’s recipes. I enjoy her authenticity.
Nick
Hey Jeanne, to give credit, she actually adapts most of her recipes. If you read the recipe notes, she almost always starts with someone else’s recipe and maybe makes minor tweaks to it, especially for baked stuff. Of course there’s nothing wrong with this and I do it also. But yea, she chooses her recipes well and puts fun and thoughtful twists on them which is what any good food blogger, in my opinion, should be doing.
Rachael
Sure, but it would be good to be clear that she developed her own recipes for the cookbook. It does seem like she’s been doing more and more of her own recipe development as the site has progressed over the years as well (though of course, she provides credit when she adapts something).
Regardless, the best thing about Smitten Kitchen aside from the engaging reading and clean presentation is how thoroughly tested and specific the recipes are.
Gerry @ Foodness Gracious
I don’t own a copy of her book but I have used a couple of her recipes which have always turned out well- maybe that was just me ;) It’s really hard to talk about recipe originality. Sometimes I’ll think of a bingo idea and a quick Google proves it’s already out there :( I think recipes just revolve and evolve. I mean, how many variations of lemon bar can there possibly be?
Katie
What temperature is the oven supposed to be?
Nick
Hey Katie! 400 degrees. :)
transportation
This post really peaked my interest.
Sophie
This recipe is a winner! I especially liked the portion size since so many other Dutch Baby recipes are for a larger pan and makes too much for 1-2 people. I’m a big Smitten Kitchen fan and even though I’ve had the cookbook for a couple of years, I just now got around to making this – found it as I was thumbing through the book looking for something else.