Baked Dutch Apple Pancake

By Swami Samvidaananda

I’m one of the breakfast chefs at the Ashram.  Baked Dutch Apple Pancake is one of my favorites. It’s a simple pancake batter.  And the yummy apple-maple-butter topping makes it special.  Plus, it’s fun to flip!

You get to be creative in how you lay the apple slices into the bottom of the pan.  Be fancy & create an apple slice mandala.  Or just toss them in there and create a new, random pattern each time.  Or create your own design!  Whatever you choose, it’s sure to be delicious.

Baked Dutch Apple Pancake is adapted from a recipe from Vegweb.  It serves 4 people generously.

For sufficient protein, serve with whole milk yogurt & a topping of Chili-Spiced Walnuts.  Each serving plus the side dishes provides about 18 grams of protein (1/4 pancake + 1/4 cup walnuts + 1/3 cup yogurt).

Ingredients for this meal give the six Ayurvedic tastes.  The pancake, of course, is mostly sweet: the flour, ghee, apples, applesauce, sugar & maple syrup all provide the sweet taste.  The yogurt & Chili-Spiced Walnuts provide the other tastes and add protein.  The yogurt is for sour, and the Chili-Spiced Walnuts are for salty, pungent, astringent & bitter.

Ingredients & Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
2. Prepare:
   3–4 apples (I like a combination of Granny Smith and Gala.)
   Peel and thinly slice.
3. Combine in a 9” baking pan or pie pan,
   1/3 cup maple syrup
   1/4 cup brown sugar
   3 tablespoons ghee or butter
4. Put the baking/pie pan in the oven for about 5 minutes, until the ghee melts. Remove and stir to dissolve the sugar.
5. Arrange the apple slices, overlapping, over the syrup mixture in the pan. (This is where you get to be creative.) Set your pan aside.
6. In a small bowl, whisk together:
   3/4 cup whole milk
   1/3 cup applesauce
   1 Ener-G egg Replacer (or egg replacer of your choice)
   1 tablespoon ghee, melted
7. In a medium bowl, combine:
   1 1/4 cups flour
   4 tablespoons sugar
   2 teaspoons baking powder
   1/4 teaspoon salt
8. Pour the milk mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until smooth.  It’s okay if there are a few lumps, as it’s important that you don’t over-mix it.  Pancake batter is like that — if you mix it too much, it will make your pancake tough.
9. Pour the batter over the apples.
10. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the pancake has puffed up and turned light golden brown, while the maple-butter bubbles around the edges.
11. While it’s baking, make your Chili-Spiced Walnuts:  sauté walnuts in a small amount of ghee or butter, stirring so that each walnut is lightly coated and wet.  Add generous amounts of salt and chili seasoning, toss to mix well.  Add spices to taste.
12. Remove the pan from oven and flip it over onto a serving plate.  

To flip it, use a serving plate that’s just a little larger than your baking pan.  Place the serving plate upside down on top of your baking pan. Using potholders, get a firm hold of the edge of both the baking pan and the serving plate at the same time.  Get as secure a grip as you can; then carefully pick them up together.  Remembering that the baking pan is piping hot, quickly flip them over.

Lift the baking pan off your pancake, revealing your baked apple topping.  You did it!  

It’s okay if a few apples stick to the bottom of your baking pan.  Simply scoop them out of the pan and put them on your pancake. Hot maple-butter syrup coats the top and will pool around your pancake.  Serve immediately.  Enjoy!