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« Finnish pannukakku, cut into squares and layered with a fresh fruit compote. »

pan·cake n.

A thin cake made of batter that is poured onto a hot greased surface and cooked on both sides until brown. Also called flannel cake, flapjack; Also called griddlecake, hotcake; also called regionally battercake.

Aside from transcending cultures, pancakes also transcend social classes. They are served in the simplest households and in the grandest royal palaces.

American pancakes seem to have an almost mythological aura surrounding them since so many Americans travel around and scoff at what the locals call a pancake. Yankees with their pancakes and maple syrup were pretty late on getting into the pancake scene as nearly every culture has some kind of pancake as part of their regional cuisine. There are likely as many different varieties of pancakes in the US as there are states, too. But, America elevated the pancake to a valued breakfast food and welcomed diners serving breakfast all day and all night. Finding a good stack of pancakes with warm syrup and a side of scrapple is sometimes difficult, but the pancake is more than just a food, it's a feeling of being home. Pancakes are the basic comfort food in the US.

Some of my fondest memories as a kid involve going to IHOP after Sunday mass for a stack of pancakes topped with a smile fashioned from 2 maraschino cherry eyes, a whipped butter nose and a pineapple ring smile. I despised going to church, but I sucked it up every week knowing that I only had to suffer for an hour to be rewarded with heavenly pancakes. I was easy back then. :) Even when I was older, going to the all night diner for pancakes and eggs after drinking and dancing was a cherished tradition. Finland may have pancakes but the lack of diners or greasy spoons really is a gaping chasm in the comfort food landscape.

Jarkko attempted to make a Finnish pancake for me at some point when we were living back in Boston. He made three attempts and was convinced that the milk or eggs were too different when he failed every time to recreate his beloved pancake. I'm not sure what went wrong, but I'm pretty certain that the eggs and milk in the US aren't quite that different. Finland has a few different varieties of pankcake; the lettu, a crepe-like thin pancake that is fried on a large paella pan, spread with strawberry jam and folded, the ohukkaat, small dollar pancakes and the pannukakku, an oven baked pancake. All of these use a similar, if not the same, batter. They are served a variety of ways, depending on if they are sweet and served with jam or fresh fruit, possibly with cream, or savoury and served with meat and vegetables. Pancakes are very flexible.

I like the Finnish pancakes as what's not to love about a sweet, fried/baked treat served with jam and cream? But, there are certain foods that you eat as a child that become your basic measure of familiarity, your comfort foods, and as much as I enjoy Finnish pancakes, they just aren't the fluffy blueberry flapjacks served with whipped butter and hot maple syrup with a side of scrapple and eggs from my favourite diner back home. It works both ways though as, given the choice between both the pannukakku and the German pancake in the icebox, Jarkko goes for the pannukakku first. I wanted to solve the mystery of the Finnish pancake not working in the US and I think that maybe Jarkko just wasn't remembering the recipe correctly. Or something. :) The Finnish pannukakku recipe is quite good and I'm happy with it after sifting through about 40 different recipes on the net and in a few cookbooks I have. I'm sure that it will work just as well elsewhere in the world. I also wanted to make something American [in spite of the 'German' in the name] that might meet somewhere between the flapjack and the pannukakku. The German pancake is a baked pancake that has fruit and cream in it, as well as a caramel sauce, which are all popular standards in many Finnish desserts, but not common in the pannukakku. If I had any maple syrup around I would try that on it as well since it might swing the taste back towards home.

Pannukakku, maailman paras!/The world's best [Finnish] Pancake!

Makes: about 35 small ohukkaat or 1 med-large pancake ~1-2 cm thick or a reasonable number of waffles.
Time: about 80 minutes, including a 30 minute rest for the batter
Source: Ruoka ja Viini

• 8 dl or 3.5 cups milk
• 2-3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 dl or 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar**
• 4 dl or 1.75 cups wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 50-100g or 1/2-1 stick melted butter

1. In a bowl, whisk eggs until the yolks are broken and add milk.
2. Mix together dry ingredients. You can reduce the amount of sugar or remove it entirely if you wish.
3. Add the dry ingredient mixture gradually into the egg-milk mixture, stirring well.
4. Let the batter rest for 30 minutes.
5. Pour batter into baking pan covered in baking paper, place in a cold oven and bake at 225C/425F for about 30 minutes. The baking paper may also be greased with oil or melted butter so that the pancake relases easily from the pan.

The pannukakku batter is very similar for all the varieties of lettut [crepes], ohukkaat [dollar pancakes], vohvelit [waffles] and pannukakku [pancake]. This particular recipe is excellent and, perhaps, a bit on the sweet side but you can reduce the amount of sugar or remove it entirely and add vegetables and/or some sort of meat for a savory version. I also found that sifting the flour into the mixture made a smoother batter since the egg and milk tend to make unsifted flour form clumps. I used 75g of butter and thought it to be a bit on the greasy side so using the 50g instead of the 100g suggestion seems the better amount. The baking time will vary as I found 30 minutes was not quite long enough as, even though it was getting brown on top, the center was still a bit gooey.

**About vanilla sugar: Don't substitute vanilla extract for this. The difference in taste is akin to the difference between a quart of Bryer's Vanilla Ice Cream with the full bean and some other cheap vanilla ice cream. Life is too short to use fake vanilla considering that we may be the last generation to enjoy the real bean. You can make your own if it's not readily available.

Vanilla Sugar

• 2-3 vanilla beans
• 2 cups confectioner's [or granulated] sugar

Slice down the side of the vanilla beans with a knife and scrape the seeds into an airtight container with the sugar. Mix seeds into the sugar and seal tightly with lid. Let sit for 1 to 2 weeks.

German Apple Pancake

Makes: 1 10" or 25cm diameter pancake
Time: about 1 hour
Special Equipment: Ovenproof skillet
Source: Cook's Illustrated

The perfect pancake should have crisp, lighter-than-air edges and a custard-like center, with buttery sautéed apples baked right into the batter.

A 10-inch ovenproof skillet is necessary for this recipe; we highly recommend using a nonstick skillet for the sake of easy cleanup, but a regular skillet will work as well. You can also use a cast-iron pan; if you do, set the oven temperature to 425 degrees in step 1, and when cooking the apples in step 3, cook them only until just barely golden, about 6 minutes. Cast iron retains heat better than stainless steel, making the higher oven temperature unnecessary.

• 1/2 cup or 1.25 dl unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar 
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt 
• 2 large eggs 
• 2/3 cup or 1.5 dl half-and-half  [half cream, half whole milk]
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 
• 1 1/4 pounds or about .56 kg Granny Smith or Braeburn apples (3 to 4 large apples), peeled, quartered, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
• 1/4 cup or 1/2 dl light brown sugar or dark brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice 
• confectioners' sugar for dusting

1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position; pre-heat oven to 500F/260C degrees.
2. Whisk to combine flour, granulated sugar, and salt in medium bowl. In second medium bowl, whisk eggs, half-and-half, and vanilla until combined. Add liquid ingredients to dry and whisk until no lumps remain, about 20 seconds; set batter aside.
3. Heat butter in 10-inch/25cm ovenproof nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until sizzling. Add apples, brown sugar, and cinnamon; cook, stirring frequently with heatproof rubber spatula, until apples are golden brown, about 10 minutes. Off heat, stir in lemon juice.
4. Working quickly, pour batter around the edge of the skillet and over the top of the apples. Place skillet in oven and immediately reduce oven temperature to 218C/425F degrees; bake until pancake edges are brown and puffy and have risen above edges of skillet, about 18 minutes.
5. Using oven mitts to protect hands, remove hot skillet from oven and loosen pancake edges with heatproof rubber spatula; invert pancake onto serving platter. Dust with confectioners' sugar, cut into wedges, and serve.

This recipe is wonderful if you like apple pancakes. I did notice that the baking time was a bit longer than 18 minutes. If you like firmer apples, you can reduce the initial frying time by half. If you lack a proper skillet, i.e. one with a plastic handle, you can likely use a small baking pan if you heat it first in the oven and quickly transfer the apples to it after frying them. Be sure to remove the pancake from the pan as soon as you remove it from the oven since it will stick if you leave it to cool for even a few minutes. Make the caramel sauce as it complements the pancake perfectly, but prepare it a few hours or even a day or two ahead of time as it seems that the flavour blooms after resting and cooling for a while. A scoop of vanilla ice cream is a tasty accompaniment, too.

Caramel Sauce

Makes about 1.5 cups or 3.5 dl

• 1/2 cup or 1.25 dl water 
• 1 cup or 2.25 dl granulated sugar 
• 1 cup or 2.25 dl heavy cream 
• 1/8 teaspoon table salt 
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice 

1. Place water in heavy-bottomed 2-quart saucepan; pour sugar in center of pan, taking care not to let sugar crystals adhere to sides of pan. Cover and bring mixture to boil over high heat; once boiling, uncover and continue to boil until syrup is thick and straw-colored (syrup should register 300F/150C degrees on candy thermometer), about 7 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and continue to cook until syrup is deep amber (syrup should register 350F/175C degrees on candy thermometer), about 1 to 2 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, bring cream and salt to simmer in small saucepan over high heat (if cream boils before sugar reaches deep amber color, remove cream from heat and cover to keep warm).
3. Remove sugar syrup from heat; very carefully pour about one quarter of hot cream into it (mixture will bubble vigorously so don't use a small saucepan), and let bubbling subside. Add remaining cream, vanilla, and lemon juice; whisk until sauce is smooth. (Sauce can be cooled and refrigerated in airtight container for up to 2 weeks.)

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