Twas the Week Before Thanksgiving

Hello foodies!

With Thanksgiving a little over a week away, I wanted to share some of my very favorite recipes this week that might be a bit of a twist on your regular Thanksgiving fare. I know we all have traditional food that we serve on Thanksgiving, but for the last few years I have made it a point to put at least one different item on the menu. Go ahead, be daring! I promise that all of the recipes that I share with you on this blog will be total hits!

The recipe I want to share with you first is actually a breakfast recipe. I know, not Thanksgiving dinner. But this afternoon as I looked at the 6 apples I bought to make an apple pie with, I determined that they were destined for another, equally yummy use. For those of you who have been to "The Original Pancake House," you'll agree that the German Apple Pancake is a definite worthy substitute for apple pie!

German Apple Pancake

a la Cooks Illustrated

1 c flour

1 Tbsp white sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 large eggs

2/3 c. half and half

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 1/4 lb apples (3-4)... I used Gala and Golden Delicious, but you can use Grannys or Braeburns

1/4 c packed brown sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp lemon juice

1) Preheat oven to 500.

2) Peel, core, quarter, and slice apples to 1/2" thick (I use an apple-peeler-corer-slicer, which if you don't have one you're missing out!).

3) In a 10" nonstick skillet, melt butter over med-high heat. Add the apples, brown sugar, and cinnamon and cook until the apples are golden brown, about 10 minutes. Off the heat, stir in the lemon juice.

4) While apples are cooking, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, eggs, half-and-half, and vanilla.

5) Once apples are done cooking, quickly pour the batter around the edge of the skillet then over the apples. Place the skillet in the oven and immediately reduce the oven temperature to 425 degrees. Bake about 18 minutes, or until pancake is puffy and golden brown. Loosen the edges of the pancake with a spatula and invert the pancake onto a large plate or serving platter.

Serve dusted with powdered sugar, or even better, drizzled with one of my syrup recipes.