I’m pretty much obsessed with German Pancakes these days. (And for those of you grammar snobs, I know you think I shouldn’t capitalize Pancakes, but I’m going to. If I had no self-restraint at all, I would call them GERMAN PANCAKES or maybe GERMAN PANCAKES!!!!, or even GERRRRMAN PANCAKESOFHAPPINESS!!!!, so be grateful for what you’ve got.)
I’d like to take a moment to thank my older sister’s junior high Home Economics teacher for giving this recipe to her class. It changed my life. I don’t know how anybody could be critical of public education when teachers are clearly responsible for the increase in German Pancake production over the past twenty years. And I have a sneaking suspicion that if you look closely at schools that are struggling with behavior problems and violence, you’ll find a lack of German Pancakes.
Lately, I’ve been using them as incentive for Christian to get up a little earlier, shower and get ready in time for school. I nudge his sleeping shoulder and whisper, “If you get up now and shower, there’s enough time for a German Pancake.” His eyes pop open, a smile spreads across his lips and he hops out of bed. It works like a charm. You see, he appreciates them as much as I do, and as he falls further and further in love with sports (a world I rarely visit or understand), I am comforted in the idea that we will always share a common foundation—the love of our preferred breakfast food. I’m looking forward to the day I hand over the egg carton and beaters and teach him to make his own.
So, without further ado, I am announcing May 30 through June 6 as National German Pancake Awareness and Appreciation Week! (Don’t worry, I approved it with Oprah first.) This is the week to make, bake, and take GPs to the next level. Have them for breakfast. Have them for lunch. Have them for dinner and a midnight snack. Have them when you’re happy, and especially when you’re sad. Cut one in half and share it with someone you love. Make the world a better place with your eggs, flour, milk, salt, and butter.
If you have never experienced one of these fluffy wonders, let no more time pass. You probably have all the ingredients in your cupboard right now. Go ahead and preheat your oven to 450 degrees. I’ll wait. You can jot down the recipe when you get back. And just in case you’re hesitating, I’ll provide you with a warm, buttery preview:
Convinced, yes? I thought you’d see it my way.
Now write this on something sturdy that can withstand years and years of use. Lamination is a good idea.
GERRRRMAN PANCAKESOFHAPPINESS!!!!
(a recipe from the Home Economics department at Union Middle School)
3 eggs
3 T butter
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. flour
1/4 t. salt
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Whip eggs in a bowl until they are a light, lemony color. Cut butter into three slices and place them in a 9×9 baking dish. Place the dish in the oven for a few minutes to allow the butter to melt. (Keep a close watch!) Add milk, flour, and salt to the eggs and beat until smooth and creamy. When the butter has melted, remove the dish from the oven and pour the egg mixture into the warm dish. Put the dish in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.
Serve with maple syrup. Or, if you like adventure, slather the pancake with butter, sprinkle it generously with powdered sugar and squeeze the juice of a fresh lemon all over it.
I hope you enjoy NGPAAW as much as I plan to. Please send in your experiences with German Pancakes (and pictures too). It’s time to start making a difference, one gigantic breakfast food at a time!
first of all, you are hilarious. i love your posts. second of all, german pancakes are just about the only breakfast food i love. and i loooooove them. i’m making them for dinner tonight, thanks to you. pictures will follow.
These rank right up there with the German’s other contribution to the world’s culinary faves, Auntie Anne’s Pretzels.
I am dying! I want one right now!!! I think maybe that is what we’ll have for dinner, after all it is National German Pancake Awareness and Appreciation Week!
I taught my Brazillian counterparts about these great Pancakes of Germany. I loved to see their faces as I pulled the pan full of mountains of golden goodness from the oven. German Pancakes are absolutely incredible. Why don’t we start a German Pancakes restaurant.
The greatest recipe to sweep our great country. I think a week of appreciation will do for Germanos (as we refer to them at my house). I don’t think it is a coincidence that my birthday falls during this week. Hmm…now I don’t have to fret about what to eat for breakfast on my birthday…Germanos it is! I love your blogs Tiff…you are hilarious!
Mmmmm! Now that’s a National Awareness movement I can get into! Would it be too much to eat them everyday, for every meal throughout this monumental week?
Don’t you think we should share them with our friends and neighbors? Even have German Pancake Parties?
Thanks for the mouth-watering photo!
I agree with all previous comments. Did you know that GPs have an English cousin? A humble, obscure, nonetheless interesting and worth-becoming-acquainted-with cousin, who is content to be a bit player, a supporting role to the main attraction, usually RB (roast beef), and camouflaged with gravy: Yorkshire Pudding! You probably wouldn’t invite this cousin to breakfast, lunch and dinner for a week of recognition, but an occasional visit would be mildly acceptable – especially if the potato crop should fail some year.
Recipe available upon request.
I too enjoy a good German Pancake.
My wife has also introduced me to Norwegian Pancakes which are very much like crepes. They are also awesome and delicious.
Also, on one camp out last year, we ran out of paper plates at breakfast. So I remembered the genius of the McGriddle and made a breakfast sandwich out of two pancakes, some scrambled eggs, two slices of bacon, and a light drizzle of syrup on the inside. It was absolutely awesome. Better than the McDonald’s version even.
Long live breakfast food!
I have to jump on the GP bandwagon & say they are definitely my fav. breakfast food. It may sound strange at first, but my family’s favorite topping on them is our own invention of peach syrup. Blend a can/jar of peaches, add extra sugar to taste, heat & stir & pour over the best morning food ever. YUM!!!!!
I was introduced to German Pancakes at Oakcrest Camp. Either on a Monday morning before campers arrived or on Tuesday when all the girls and counselors were doing their Tuesday morning cookouts – German Pancakes were a treat for the kitchen staff. Imagine a large pan (like 6- 9×13’s) baking and poofing in the oven. Here I share with you the recipe I used for several years cooking in the kitchen at Oakcrest Camp:
GERMAN PANCAKES
(Yield 40)
10 Cubes butter (Melted in 4 Large cake pans)
76 Eggs
1 Gallon Flour
1 Gallon Milk
1t. Salt
Top with Powdered Sugar, Syrup, or Jam
Wow, I feel like I have really been missing out on something amazing. I even went to Union Middle School and I think I was even a TA for home ec, but I think that mostly involved sitting in a back room with this rocker chick girl with big hair, acid wash jeans and a purse filled with toothpaste and cigarretes. Somehow no one shared the German pancake recipe with us.
All those times you mentioned German pancakes, I assumed you just had a different name for Swedish pancakes – also delish but probably more akin to the crepe-like Norwegian pancakes mentioned above. I guess I know what is for dinner tonight! Thanks for clarifying.
[...] I have to let you know that your GERRRMANN PANCAKES OF HAPPINESS!!!!! saved my life yesterday. I had the worst day ever! I woke up at 4:30 am and couldn’t get back to sleep. I was freezing and the shower wasn’t giving me adequate hot water. There was no milk for my cereal. I had no clean clothes. Static took over my hair. I made tuna fish for lunch but didn’t have any bread to put it on. My car wouldn’t heat up fast enough. Everything that could go wrong at work, did go wrong. My throat was sore. I forgot my lunch. My co-worker was arrested over the weekend. I was stuck in traffic on the way home. My library books were overdue. I forgot to bring to trash to the road for pickup. I left the iron on. I forgot to put socks in my gym bag. The door on my mailbox was busted and my Bon Appetit magazine got soaked. And water leaked into my basement! [...]