Apple Dutch Baby

This is a really yummy cake/pancake/coffee cake. It's not overly sweet if you use a tart apple, and is nicely filling with the protein from the almond meal. It doesn't taste at all like a raisin bread, even though there is a full cup of raisins in the cake. The raisins help stabilize the cake, and add a very subtle flavor.

There are two options given for sweetening the topping. Honey is rather high in maltose, and if you opt to use honey there is over 300 mg of maltose per serving. If maltose or honey isn't an issue, either sweetener is delicious. If you have trouble with either maltose or honey, I'd recommend using the brown sugar option.


(Shown made with a mixture of Jonagold and Granny Smith Apples, brown sugar mixture used to sweeten topping)

Apple Dutch Baby

Pancake:
1 cup almond meal
1/2 cup flax seed
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon xantham gum
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 eggs
1 cup raisins
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter or margarine


Topping:
4 large apples, diced
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon cornstarch or tapioca starch
*1/2 cup honey
*2 teaspoons cold water
OR
*1/3 cup brown sugar
*scant 1/4 cup white sugar
*1 tablespoon cold water

Directions:
Preheat at 300 degrees F. In a mixing bowl, combine the almond meal, flax seed, sugar, xantham gum and baking soda. In a food processor, puree raisins and eggs. Combine raisin puree, almond mixture and milk, mix until smooth.

Place butter in a 10-in. ovenproof skillet. Heat tilt over medium heat until butter is melted, swirl pan to coat bottom and sides. Pour batter into hot skillet. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until edges are lightly browned and center is cooked through. Let pancake rest at least 10 minutes before topping with apple mixture.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, saute apples in butter until lightly browned. Combine topping ingredients, add to apple mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened and slightly syrupy. Set aside until pancake is ready.

To serve: Spoon topping over pancake, cut into 8 slices.

There is just under one gram of starch per serving when made with cornstarch, slightly more if you substitute tapioca starch. If you omit the cornstarch and choose to thicken the topping by simmering it for a few minutes, it is effectively starch free, though not entirely starch free as the raisins add about 4.5 grams of starch to the recipe (approximately 1/2 gram of starch per serving).