And they really did look like this

Then they looked like this.

Then, finally, they looked like this.
My mom told me, last fall, about a marvelous new thing she'd been making for breakfast. . . Dutch babies. Puffed pancakes you whirl in the blender and bake in the oven. For some reason, it took me till now to give them a try.

Please don't procrastinate like I did. They were perfect. They were delicious. And we will be making them again.

Jared wanted to know if babies in Holland are particularly soft and poofy?

Dutch Babies
(from Smitten Kitchen, where Deb calls them German Pancakes... I prefer the sillier name)

6 eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 cup flour*
3 tablespoons softened butter
3/4 teaspoon salt

1) Preheat oven to 400. Place three 9-inch cake pans or deep-dish pie plates in the oven to preheat along with it.
2) Crack eggs into a blender and process on low until light yellow. With blender still running on low, add remaining ingredients and process until smooth, for at least one minute. Make sure you really beat the batter well; you want to incorporate plenty of air, because that is what helps them to puff.
3) Remove hot pans from oven and coat lightly with nonstick spray. Divide batter evenly among pans and return to oven.
4) Bake at 400 for 20 minutes. Open oven, marvel at the magical puff, and gently touch the Dutch babies to see if they are done. remove from oven, loosen edges with spatula, and slide onto plates. Top with butter, maple syrup, sliced peaches, applesauce, Greek yogurt, raw honey, or anything else you like on your pancakes.
5) If not done after 20 minutes, rotate pans, reduce heat to 350 and bake for 5-10 more minutes. Serve as directed above.

This obviously makes three pancakes, one of which is enough for me. However, my husband polished off two (he usually eats 50% to 100% more than I do at breakfast). So scale accordingly. The original recipe made two pancakes, but I knew that somebody around here would need more than one, so I increased the recipe by half. Not hard to reduce it again if that suits you better. :)

I'm looking forward to trying fruit- or sausage-filled Dutch babies. They say that one can put fried apples, sausage slices, etc. in the bottom of the pan before pouring in the batter . . . we'll find out soon.

*I have used all white flour, half whole wheat, and all whole wheat. It seems to me that as long as you beat the batter thoroughly right before pouring it into the pans, they will puff perfectly.

{images from food bloggers Thyme for Food, Smitten Kitchen, and Joy the Baker, in that order}