Cherry season is upon us and I can’t get enough, I’ve been buying bags of them weekly, mainly just for eating but cherries can be used both in sweet and savory dishes as well and cherries just scream summer to me!
Recently I made this delicious Dutch baby pancake filled with plump fresh cherries, the batter flavored with Amaretto and topped off with toasted almonds.
A Dutch baby pancake is excellent to serve for a special breakfast or even a dessert, and it’s quite simple to put together, it uses basic ingredients and the result is a showstopper presentation. I’m thinking this might be nice to serve for a casual breakfast on the 4th of July.
I have to admit I never owned a cherry pitter before, I thought it was too time consuming and messy to use.
Yes, it could get a little messy, but I found pitting them into a bowl with deep sides minimized the juice from squirting everywhere. It was a little trial and error before I figured that out, but once I did the process went really fast.
Pull the stem out, place the cherry in the little cup holder, plunge the handle down and out pops the pit it’s that easy, and by the way the cherries stay fairly intact.
Take a day, pit the cherries then refrigerate them so they’re ready to go, I even tossed them into a salad the other evening but for something on the sweet side you have to make this dutch baby!
The cherries get swirled around with melted butter spiked with Amaretto liqueur, the smell is intoxicating!
Then the prepared batter gets poured in all around the cherries and then into the oven the pan goes, as it cooks the pancake will puff up really high and then when taken out it settles down and leaves you with this bejeweled looking pancake.
Sprinkle with toasted almonds and powdered sugar.
You can drizzle syrup or honey on top, add whipped cream or even a scoop of ice cream.
Either way it’s all amazing!
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- 2 cups, pitted fresh bing cherries
- ¼ cup of butter
- 1 Tablespoon Amaretto liqueur, or (1/4 to ½ teaspoon of almond extract)
- ½ cup of toasted, sliced almonds
- ¾ cup of flour
- ¾ cup of whole milk
- 3 large eggs
- 2 Tablespoons, sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste or vanilla
- powdered sugar for dusting
- Heat oven to 425F.
- For The Batter:
- Whisk together, eggs, flour, milk, salt, sugar and vanilla bean paste until nice and smooth, or you can whizz it in a blender.
- In a heavy, 10 to 12 inch oven proof pan like a cast iron, melt the butter on stove top.
- When butter is melted add the cherries and the Amaretto liqueur. (or almond extract).
- Saute the cherries in the butter and Amaretto for around 2 minutes, stirring them gently.
- Pour the batter into the pan with the cherries, then place the pan into the preheated oven.
- Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown and puffy.
- Remove pan from oven and sprinkle with the toasted almonds, the pancake will sink down and settle into the pan.
- Slice and serve with syrup, honey, whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream.
Spring is just around the corner and berries are popping up in all the grocery stores, which is why I couldn’t resist taking home these beauties I found last week. I immediately knew I would showcase them in all their fresh glory as a topping to my puff pancake!
The batter comes together quickly, it gets poured into a hot buttered pan then placed into a preheated oven for 25 minutes, it puffs up really high then deflates. Even if you get a few cracks like I did it’s no big deal!
Those cracks will soon be smothered with a luscious mascarpone and ricotta cream, the perfect base to plop and nestle in your berries.
Make sure to have a pot of rich, bold coffee brewing, warm up some maple syrup and generously dust that berry pancake with powdered sugar!
Sit down and enjoy, breakfast is served!
I’m Marie, a wife, mother, mother-in-law, and gramma of two beautiful girls. My passion is food, clear and simple but especially Italian food, hence the name of my blog, Proud Italian Cook. I want you to feel right at home here so grab a cup of coffee, I’ll get the pastries, take a look around and enjoy your visit! {
