Mini German Pancakes

The first time I had a German pancake was when I was in 8th grade. I had gone to my friend's house after school, and she whipped one up for us. I was super impressed that she knew how to make something edible that required baking in an oven (I seriously don't think I baked anything until after I was married). She slathered the finished puff with butter, then sprinkled on brown sugar and lemon juice. It was the yummiest thing EVER.

I have made many German pancakes over the years, but a few years back I came across the idea to make individual ones in a muffin tin. That is the only way I've made them since.

I've made them twice in the past 10 days - once on the first day of school, and again on the first day of Seminary (yes, Seminary that starts at 6:10am!). They are a favorite around here, for sure.

Mini German Pancakes

1 cube (= 1 stick = 1/2cup) butter (can use less and they turn out fine)
6 large eggs
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp. salt (because I use salted butter - you could add 1 tsp. salt if you use unsalted butter)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Slice butter into 12 equal pieces and put in the bottoms of 12 muffin cups. Put into oven and melt butter. IMPORTANT: I use 2 LARGE 6-count muffin tins - I have not tried them in regular sized (12 count) muffin tins.

Blend remaining ingredients in a blender (or you can whisk by hand). Once the butter is melted in the bottom of the muffin cups, pour batter into tins, dividing equally. I use a scoop, but you can eyeball it. It's better to have batter left over, then add it to the batter already in the cups, than to run out and have a muffin cup with melted butter and no batter. That butter will burn and possibly catch fire. Just sayin'.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until pancakes are puffed and brown on the edges.

Sometimes they look like this...

...and sometimes they look like this.

Serve immediately. Note: the beautiful little puffs that come out of the oven quickly deflate... but they are so, so delicious anyway.

I am still a HUGE fan of topping these with brown sugar and lemon juice (if you've never tried it, you need to!), but you can also top them with regular maple syrup, or berries and whipped cream... or whatever your heart desires.

Serves 6... or 4... or 3, depending on how many each person wants to eat.

YUMMMMMMM.....