On the way to planning for a friend’s third birthday dinner, the idea had come to me that creating dishes based on breakfast would be the treat. I abandoned the idea immediately and I’m glad I did. What ended up appearing at the dinner party was perfect and, while I was considering desserts, the birthday girl forwarded me a link to a 2004 Food.com recipe for Finnish Oven Pancakes. I realized that she still thought it was going to be a meal of breakfasts but I didn’t cast this strange Oven Pancake away.
My favorite topping was Michigan Red Tart Cherry Preserves (pictured) Smucker’s “Orchard’ Finest” line. The other flavors I offered were Northwoods Blueberry and Pacific Mountain Strawberry Preserves both also mouthful names and Smucker’s preserves. The next day, I tried the leftover Pannu Kakku with syrup and coffee for breakfast. Excellent – firmer, more flavorful and just as fun a sight to behold. And those edges… Originally baked in a flimsy 9×13 aluminum serving tray, I was convinced that the pancake’s edges were purely the result of uneven baking. Just my luck that later that day, I found a Pyrex 9×13 dish on sale for under $8! A test was in order.
What you see above is the EDGE that good people crave. It’s not crispy, it’s not got a different flavor, it’s just … interesting. I think. Pictured to the right is the fresh result of cooking a third oven pancake using the newly acquired Pyrex dish.
I like gratuitous food. This is gratuitous food. It’s incredibly hard to mess up and tastes good with nearly everything. I know for a fact that there are Pancake Monsters out there that lurk at both dawn and dusk searching high and low for the breakfast bread that satisfies. This is close – it’s a custard that shares some qualities with a pancake but don’t worry if you don’t like custard; it doesn’t taste like custard.
| Pannu Kakku – Finnish Oven Pancake | |
| Ingredients | Quantity |
| Beaten Eggs | 4 |
| Milk | 4 Cups |
| Sugar (light brown Florida Crystals used) | ½ Cups |
| All-Purpose Flour | 1 Cup |
| Softened Butter (Unsalted) | 4 Tablespoons (½ Stick) |
| Vanilla Extract | 1 teaspoon |
| Sea Salt | 1 teaspoon |
| Powdered Sugar aside for dusting | |
- It’s a lot of wet batter – have a BIG bowl
- Pre-heat to 400-degrees
- Grease your 9×13 tray
- You’re done in 40 minutes – top starts to golden
As it cools, the middle sinks. Don’t despair. I thought the glass dish would change this and it didn’t. If you dust with powder sugar too soon, it just dissolves and absorbs in. Serve it with just about anything that comes to mind. The next day, it’s still incredible.
