Making a new kind of pancake

Sunday mornings are for elaborate breakfasts. OK, nothing too elaborate, to be fair, but in my house, Sunday morning usually meant pancakes or french toast, bacon and eggs, where most weekdays were regulated to cereal and toast. 

The kitchen is my mother’s domain, so generally, the pancakes we made were the regular version – usually a premade mix on the griddle. But on my dad’s side, we’re Finnish, and over the years, my mother has picked up the odd recipe from the Finnish side – my Aunt Eileen’s recipe for nisu (Finnish coffee bread), my Nana’s better-than-it-sounds dump cake. And pancakes. Or, more accurately, pannu kakku – baked Finnish pancake. 

This recipe varies wildly – you can find many different versions online if you look. Even my mother’s wooden recipe box has two different versions that are significantly different from each other. It’s a versatile recipe that way, but the good thing about that is that it’s also pretty hard to mess up and it’s a great one for experimentation. 

Here’s the version most familiar to me:

Finnish Oven Pancake (pannu kakku)

Ingredients:

3 eggs

1 ¼ cup flour

4 Tablespoons Oleo or butter

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups milk

Melt Oleo/butter in 9×13 pan in preheated 425 degree oven. Beat eggs slightly. Add salt and 1 cup of milk. Beat slightly. Add the rest of the milk and flour and beat well. Pour mixture into pan. Bake for 30 minutes or until lightly brown. You can add blueberries before baking for blueberry version. Serve hot with fresh fruit, jam, cinnamon and sugar or syrup to your preference.

So, if you want to try something new for breakfast, give this baked pancake a try. And if you have your own recipes with special memories attached, send them in, along with a short description of what your memory calls to mind for you, to run in next month’s food section. Send in your own Recipe Remembrance to news@ledgertranscript.com.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.