Dutch Baby with Lavender Sugar

Sunday mornings for me deserve a special breakfast.  Often this means french toast, but when the only bread in the house is multi-grain (and let's be serious, a good french toast should be made with challah or French bread) sometimes you need to up the ante a little bit.  I have been seeing recipes for dutch babies for months and I've been dreaming about them but they look... intimidating.  All that puffed dough in a cast iron skillet? Sounds complicated.



Wrong.  SO EASY.  Healthy? Not so much. But definitely easy!  And delicious?  Of course.  It reminds me of the fried dough we used to get at Clowntown, my hometown's annual carnival, every year.  But it's breakfast food and on Sundays, I don't even feel guilty about it!  The lavender on top takes it from a cheesy carnival treat to something just a little bit more gourmet.  I loved this so much as is, I didn't even pour maple syrup on it.  Now that's saying something.



Dutch Baby with Lavender Sugar
from A Cozy Kitchen

Ingredients
3 large eggs at room temperature 30 minutes
2/3 cup whole milk at room temperature (I used skim and it worked fine)
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon of dried lavender

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 450 F. Put a 10" cast iron skillet on the middle rack of the oven and let it heat up for about 3 minutes (if it gets too hot the butter will burn).
2. In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the eggs on high with the whisk attachment until pale and frothy. Add the milk, flour, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg and beat just until smooth. You'll have a very thin batter.
3. Carefully remove the hot skillet from the oven and add the butter, swirling to coat the bottom evenly. It may brown a little bit - that's OK.  As soon as the butter is melted, add the batter and immediately return to the oven.  Bake until puffed and golden brown, 18-25 minutes (mine was done in 18, so be sure to watch it).
4. While the pancake bakes, mix together the sugar and lavender in a small bowl.  Press the lavender into the sugar, breaking it up and making it fragrant.
5.  When the pancake is finished, remove from the oven and top with the lavender sugar.  You may not need all the sugar - I only used about half and saved the rest for another day.  Serve immediately.