Anja Dunk's Baked Pancake with Raisins and Lemon Zest (Schmarren)

My mother is of German and Prussian heritage, with her ancestors migrating to Australia in the late 1800s and settling on farms. I enjoy exploring this heritage through food, so I was excited to see the release of a new English language book focussing on German cooking by Anja Dunk called Strudel, Noodles and Dumplings.  Anja is of German descent on her mother's side of the family, and grew up eating traditional German dishes brought to Wales by her mother.

I enjoyed flicking through this book as a reference, although many of the recipes do not sound like something I would naturally gravitate to.  However, I love the sound of the stews, tray bakes, preserves and baked goods in her book, and  I will attempt to make some of these as time goes by.

As an easy introduction to the recipes in Anja's book, I made a half recipe of Baked Pancake with Raisins and Lemon Zest (Schmarren) (p37 Strudel, Noodles and Dumplings) for my Saturday morning breakfast.  Baked pancakes are common in many cuisines, and I have previously made another type of baked pancake, the Dutch Baby. 

I liked that this pancake was packed with juicy, sweet raisins, which really made the dish for me.  When serving this pancake, I also had some berries on the side to add more flavour and moisture.  The toasted flaked almonds on top added some crunch and flavour, while the cinnamon flecked icing sugar dusting the top of the pancake added sweetness to a pancake that is not of itself particularly sweet. 

I was surprised at how filling this pancake was - it filled me up more than my usual porridge, despite the pancake being based on white flour.  A half recipe was plenty for me.  I liked the sound of Anja's suggestion to soak the raisins in rum - this would be a great way to serve this pancake for dessert.

To make a baked pancake for yourself, you will need:

1 tablespoon icing sugar
pinch of ground cinnamon
1 egg, separated
90ml milk
45g plain flour
1/4 tablespoon vanilla sugar
pinch of salt
zest of 1/4 lemon
25g raisins
small knob of butter
1/2 tablespoon toasted almonds

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Combine the icing sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.

In a larger bowl, beat together to egg yolks, milk and flour until smooth.   Fold in the vanilla sugar, raisins and lemon zest.

In another bowl, whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks, then fold through the pancake batter.

In a small oven-proof skillet, melt the butter over the stovetop.  Pour the pancake batter into the skillet, and cook until the base of the pancake is golden brown.  Flip the pancake over and place it in the skillet in the preheated oven for 5 minutes.

Remove the pancake from the oven, dust with the cinnamon -icing sugar mixture, and scatter over the toasted flaked almonds.

Serve and enjoy while warm!