Cast Iron Skillet Review

I'm sure you've seen CSN stores talked about all over the blog world. And while you may be sick of hearing about them, they certainly haven't stopped supplying great products at great prices with great reliability. After ordering my product, I received it no less than four days later! Much sooner than they told me. So that's really awesome!

My product choice was a cast iron skillet, pre-seasoned mind you. I didn't own a cast iron skillet before, but I've heard about their wonders. Though it was called pre-seasoned, you still need to season it? Idk, whatever. It's still very nice and authentically heavy!It's first use? A dutch baby pancake of course! It was all my mom though. They've become her special breakfast item that I occasionally help her with (and make better hehe). But we wanted to see if using a cast iron skillet really made an authentic dutch baby with puffy sides and all!

So let's compare:

A regular cake pan dutch baby:


A cast iron skillet dutch baby:


Verdict: Obviously it's visually apparent that I got way more fluff from the regular cake pan than the cast iron skillet. It also tasted much much better than the cast iron skillet version. However, in all fairness, my mom (no offense here) chose a new recipe which was horrible. So that could explain it. We will for sure be making more babies in the future;) JK that just sounds weird... We'll be making DUTCH babies again.

I won't share the recipe for the cast iron skillet dutch baby since it was so bad, but click here, and you can find my post for that delicious apple dutch baby!

Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes

These were kind of yucky. I'm not beating around the bush in this post. I seriously did not like this. Not every recipe's a winner right? Yeah well these didn't even place in the top ten. I'm sad to even admit where I got these from because she usually never fails me. I've gotten so many great recipes from her blog, and I even follow her on Twitter! But for the first time, a Joy the Baker recipe failed me. Or rather, I failed at her recipe is probably more accurate. I read through a ton of the comments and everyone gave the recipe rave reviews and said they'd make it again and again. Weird.

These oatmeal pancakes sounded like a a good option. They were a slightly healthier pancake, and looked fluffy enough. Unfortunately, they were completely not. They were extremely runny, resulting in flat (non-fluffy) pancakes. My least favorite, ever. The thing was, I did not taste "cookie" (or "oatmeal" for that matter) in the pancake at all.

Don't you hate the never ending cycle of needing buttermilk but not having it, and having buttermilk and then it going bad because you have no use for it? Maybe it's just me but it can be a bit of a problem. These pancakes called for a whole 2 cups. I didn't have any so I did the ole make-it-yourself version with milk and cream of tartar. Right after this, I began to realize something was wrong. I don't know, something about the aroma it was giving off gave me an odd feeling, but I kept going. Once everything was all combined, then I could visibly see something was a miss. It was very watery. After a small taste test, I was completely repulsed. I know pancake batter isn't necessarily sweet or anything, but this was borderline foul. Soooo sour and gross. This is why I wonder if my "homemade" buttermilk may have been the problem.

The oats in the batter were not very noticeable, despite the fact that these are oatmeal pancakes. And I would never consider these reminiscent of a cookie. And terribly so, this batch made well over 40 pancakes! And they were averaged sized ones, too. So I ended up shoving a ton in the freezer and not telling anyone in my family that I didn't like them. So hopefully they will unsuspectingly finish them up hehe.

Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes

from Joy the Baker

2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
heaping 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
healthy pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
2 cups buttermilk
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup golden raisins (I omitted these)
oil or cooking spray (for cooking)

Step 1: In a large bowl beat eggs. Add buttermilk, butter , maple syrup and vanilla and mix well. Add flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt. Mix well until mostly smooth. Fold in raisins and let batter set for a few minutes.

Step 2: Heat griddle or pan over medium heat. Add a teaspoon of oil to the pan or spray with cooking spray. You can test to see if the pan is hot enough by adding a few drops of water, when the drops start to dance its hot enough.

Step 3: Pour 2 Tablespoons of batter onto the griddle. Cook on the first side until bubbles that form start to pop. You can also gently lift up the pancake to make sure the bottom is not overcooking, if it is the pan may be too hot and you will need to adjust the heat. Flip the pancake over with a spatula and cook until golden brown. Repeat until all the batter is gone. Let cooked pancakes rest on a heat proof plate in a 200 degree F oven until ready to serve.

Apple Dutch Baby

I have always been in love with pancakes. Every Sunday when I was little was known as Pancake Sunday. You woke up to Daddy making pancakes and bacon and afterward got ready for church. Eventually it wore off, but we definitely kept it going for about a year. The usual was always regular pancakes or chocolate chip. No complaints here, but now my pancake taste buds have grown. I've tried ones using cottage cheese, gingerbread ones, and one of my favorite variations on the pancake, the dutch baby.

I had my first encounter with this breakfast item when I saw it on the menu at my now favorite pancake place, The Original Pancake House, OPH. Not to be confused with this 24 hr wannabe. Don't get me wrong, they have good ideas, the cheesecake pancakes sounded/looked phenomenal on the menu, but they came out burnt on the bottom. Blech. Keep trying IHOP. The thing about OPH that I love is their statement and what they stand for. The fresh ingredients like milk, fresh grade AA eggs, pure whipped cream, hard wheat unbleached flour, a homemade sourdough starter and REAL butter make me realize that this is where I belong. Pancake heaven. But I digress. Let's talk about the Dutch Baby.

This breakfast (heck, eat it whenever) delight is something quite amazing. It is traditionally, and probably best, made in a cast iron pan. A metal round cake pan worked for me, though. It is eggstremely eggy (hehe) and so easy to make. Four ingredients for the plain pancake, and then you can play around with the toppings! If you are going traditional, however, colossal shake of powdered sugar, a butt load of butter, and a generous amount of lemon juice are the add-ons of choice. For mine, I went the sauteed apples and cinnamon route.

So overall taste: The best breakfast to wake up to. I really enjoyed it. The apple topping made it out of this world for me=) So, if you have never tried one, please go ahead and do so.............. now!


Apple Dutch Baby
from here

Pancake:
-3 tbsp butter
-3 eggs
-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
-1/2 milk

Sauteed Apple Topping:
-2 tart apples (Granny Smith), peeled and cut into very thin slices-3 tbsp butter
-3/4 teaspoon cornstarch-1/4 cup cold water
-1/4 cup brown sugar-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
-1/8-1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Make the pancake - first, heat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Over low heat, melt the 3 tablespoons butter in a 10 or 11 inch cast iron pan.
3. Put the eggs, flour, and milk in a blender, and blend well. The idea is to create a lump-free batter.
4. When the butter is melted, pour the batter into the cast iron pan.
   
5. Move the cast iron pan to the oven and cook for 20 - 25 minutes. You can tell the Dutch baby is done when the sides are brown and nice and puffy. But don't check it too early! A draft of cold air can cause it to de-puff.

When it's done, it'll look something like this:

6. While the pancake is baking, saute the apples.
Start by melting the butter over medium heat.
7. Add the apples and saute, stirring often over medium heat,
until they're tender (about 10 minutes).
8. Mix the corn starch with the cold water, and pour it over the
apples along with the brown sugar, spices, and vanilla.

9. Boil for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly,
then remove from heat.

10. When the Dutch Baby is done baking, pull it out

and pour your sauteed apple slices all over it.

11. Top with TONS of powdered sugar and whipped cream!

German Pancake Cups

Spontaneous breakfasts!! These are my favorites. Sometimes you just wake up, (and after realizing there's nothing to eat in the house), and feel inspired to make yourself a great breakfast. Gingerbread pancakes? On a complete whim. Random streusel breakfast cups? I made it up as I went.

I love German pancakes! They're so soft and dense and I like all the egg in it. These were extremely cute to make and serve. Watching them rise and then fall is very exciting. These tasted fabulous. You can't screw these up too much and they are really delicious. Make a bunch and save them in the fridge. They are extremely versatile and I can't wait to try more fun variations with crazy toppings too!

Mini German Pancakes
from Real Mom Kitchen

1 cup milk
6 eggs
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. orange zest (optional)
1/4 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Blend all ingredients except butter in a blender. Be careful to see that any flour clumps get well-blended.

Blend in melted butter a little at a time in order to temper the eggs.

Grease muffin tins well and distribute batter evenly between tins. Fill each about 3/4 the way full. Bake for 15 minutes, or until puffy and golden on top.

Serve with your favorite toppings Some suggestions are:
-powdered sugar
-butter and syrup
-freshly squeezed lemon juice, butter, and powdered sugar (a traditional combo for German pancakes)
-whipped cream
-fresh fruit or jam
-or my favorite...

Grape Jelly Whipped Cream Topping

-grape jelly, or your favorite fruit spread
-whipping cream (I only had heavy cream so it stayed soupy, which was fine but if you want it nice and whipped, use whipping cream)
-slash of powdered sugar

Combine all in a bowl (to taste) and beat on high until whipped to your liking.

Gingerbread Pancakes w/ Homemade Syrup

It's Sunday morning. There's a major ice storm in progress with many accidents on the roads. Church has been canceled (for the time being). And I'm hungry. You know what that means? PANCAKES!

When it comes to making pancakes there is really only one place to go: Joy the Baker, of course. She has incredible and fun pancake recipes that will make you drool like crazy!! Carrot cake, oatmeal raisin, pumpkin, buttermilk, and the list goes on! I chose her gingerbread pancakes for the fact that they are so seasonably appropriate and because they looked sooo good.

This was actually my first attempt at making pancakes all by myself. No help at all what-so-ever. So when I was able to stand back and admire my fabulous work, I almost cried. Almost! But seriously, these pancakes are it! I mean it!!! I have long been searching for a pancake that would satisfy my breakfast needs and this is the ONE.

The recipe made around 15? I don't know. I was so hungry I didn't bother to count and then I just ate as much as I could shove in my mouth. I can tell you this, my mom and I ate a total of twelve. And we only stopped because we had my dad take them away from us.


Let's talk about the pancakes themselves, shall we? Light and fluffy. A pillow of soft warmth. Clouds dripping with butter and syrup. Do these make any sense? Try these pancakes and they will. The flavor was spot on as well. And the whole process of making the batter and cooking them was a breeze. It took me a try or two to get the hang of cooking them, but it was my first time and all.

Let's not forget the other half of this post's title. I said homemade syrup. Brown sugar vanilla syrup, to be exact. This isn't your back-to-nature-stick-a-spicket-in-a-tree kind of syrup, but I made it in a pot nonetheless. It was the perfect (I'm talking perfect) partner for these pancakes. Maybe maple would have worked, but you gotta have that brown sugary good stuff.


I seem to be really emotional in this post but they are crazy good! Okay, I'll stop GUSHING and let you whip these up yourself. Also, I definitely plan on trying her other immaculate pancakes recipes since these were such a success!

Gingerbread Pancakes

Makes: 15ish well sized pancakes

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

3 Tablespoons molasses (not robust or black strap)

1 large egg

1 cup sour cream

3 Tablespoons whole milk

2 Tablespoons melted butter, plus additional for brushing the griddle

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and brown sugar (if you’re using it) in a medium bowl. Whisk together molasses, egg, sour cream, milk and butter in a small bowl, then add the flour mixture and stir just until combined.

Heat griddle or 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat until hot enough to make drops of water scatter over the surface. Brush with butter. Working in batches of 4 to 6 (depending on the size of the griddle), drop 1/4 cup batter per pancake onto griddle and cook until bubbles appear on surface and undersides are golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip pancakes with a spatula and cook until golden brown and cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer pancakes to a heatproof plate and keep warm in oven while you cook remaining batches.

Brown Sugar Vanilla Pancake Syrup from Allrecipes

3/4 cup packed brown sugar 1/4 cup sugar 3/4 cup water

1/2 cup light corn syrup 1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a saucepan, combine the sugars, water and corn syrup; bring to a boil over medium heat. Broil for 7 minutes or until slightly thickened. Remove from the heat; stir in maple flavoring and vanilla. Cool for 15 minutes. Serve over pancakes, waffles or French toast.

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

Wow what a terrible picture. But it's either this or nothing. So yeah I made cottage cheese pancakes for no reason really except that I had some cottage cheese. After looking through dozens of recipes, I basically chose the simplest recipe I could find. This recipe does use yogurt and luckily I had some I was trying to use up. Unfortunately it was french vanilla flavored, which is normally a good thing, except in this case. I really didn't like the 'fake-ish' tasting vanilla flavor the pancakes gave because of that. So I wasn't a big fan of the yogurt. That said, I think it was a pretty good outcome otherwise. My mom ate hers with applesauce on them and she said it was mighty tasty. I just used butter(which tasted weird against the vanilla for some reason), syrup, and eventually added some powered sugar to my last one.

Although the recipe called for small-curd, I used large. I had no real problems or anything. In fact, while you're eating them you'll find a random curd and it's like a soft little cheese pocket. Good stuff.


Cottage Cheese Pancakes

Makes about 16 pancakes

1 cup yogurt or sour cream
1 cup small-curd cottage cheese
4 eggs
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons sugar

Mix together yogurt, cottage cheese and eggs until well combined. Fold in flour and sugar until no flour streaks remain. Batter will be thick.

Butter a pancake griddle and heat to medium. Use a ladle or a large spoon to form pancakes. When bubbles form and start to pop on the top, flip the pancakes and cook for another minute or two.

De Luca's : A restaurant review.

This restaurant review is the complete opposite of my last diner experience.

Tucked into the crowded streets of the Strip district, De Luca's restaurant is an acclaimed diner that shows no signs of slowing down.

When I walked in, it was exactly as I'd imagined a diner should look. It was buzzing with excitement, and there were no seats available. We weren't in a hurry or anything so the wait didn't bother us. Shortly after we were told there were seats opening in the back, after we saw them we realized we wanted something more in the midst of all the commotion, to get the "real diner experience". When we came back to the front to wait in line again, another couple had showed up. I won't go into too many details but let's just say they didn't give a hoot that we had come in first. Since we walked to the back they considered that getting out of line. Our hostess, who I believe was also the owner, took our side the whole time and kept explaining how we had been there first and therefore the next open table was ours. But my mom and I aren't big scene starters, so using our most disgusted sounding voices we told them that the next table could be theirs. Not a great start to our dining experience but we tried our best to shrug it off.

When we did get our table, quickly after, we were given our menus. Wow. They have an amazing selection. The whole first page is devoted to all your classic breakfasts. Hundreds of combinations are placed before your eyes and they do half the thinking for you. If you're looking for lo-carb or body builer breakfasts, they've got you covered. Omelets, egg burritos and wraps, meats, and seafood, all options for their great breakfast meals.

One the next page, well that's when it gets interesting. You're now faced with their pancakes, waffles, french toast, and crepes. I was completely over whelmed and literally had to calm myself down. A choice of buckwheat or buttermilk pancakes is the least of your worries. Their "fancy toppings & pancakes" include things like apples & cinnamon, blueberry, strawberries & cream, pecan, peanut butter, granola, banana, coconut, chocolate chip, & others. Now, their Heavenly Hotcakes & Waffle Sundaes, are a whole new story. These include combinations like the Funky Monkey which has double chocolate banana hotcakes with vanilla ice cream, bananas, chocolate sauce, & whipped cream. Or the Banana Split with banana hotcakes, vanilla ice cream, strawberries, blueberries, chocolate sauce, nuts, & whipped cream. There are countless others I could list, but I won't. It's time for crepes. They've got your savory breakfast crepe, but then there's the sweet and delicious ones=). Granny's Apple Cinnamon, Banana Pecan, Chocolate Chip Strawberry, & more! Okay enough of that, next page.

Then you've got your soups, sandwiches, and burgers. On back of that, there's wraps, melts, and salads. Then below it is their ultimate soda shoppe. Basically, whatever kind of milkshake, float, or sundae you want, they'll make it, so go crazy.

My mom and I first ordered they banana split hotcakes and cinnabon waffles, but at the last minute we had our order changed. I know, I think it's pretty rude when people go and change their order after its been placed, but thankfully they hadn't started making it yet. And, there was no way we could pass up the cheese blintzes. They were 2 crepes filled with sweet creamy ricotta cheese, dusted with powdered sugar, served with lemon and lingonberries. My goodness was it delicious! The warm ricotta and the delicate crepe are a match made in heaven. Then, you must squeeze lemon juice all over it and add the lingonberry preserves on top for the perfect mouthful! Needless to say, they were gone in 2 seconds. I will say they were pretty small for they price of $6.59. Fine Pamela's, your price was a better bargain. But these were extremely good.

We also got a short stack(2) of pumpkin pancakes. Yummmm!! Honestly, setting aside that they were incredibly pumpkiny, these were just the most perfect pancakes ever. They were just the right size and color of what pancakes should be. But the inside was gorgeous! Moist, soft, fluffy goodness is how I would desribe them. Not rubbery texture or tough inside, and not at all overcooked or undercooked. And of course the pumpkin flavor was dead on, the perfect amount of pumpkin taste, with a delightful whipped cream topping to complete it. These were priced at $3.59 which was really a steal for how good they were.

I will most definitely be returning there as soon as I can. While, we were eating the lady I presumed to be the owner went around to tables and refilled coffee's while engaging in conversation. She was a funny and charming woman who really cared about her customers. There were so many things on the menu I would love to try and hopefully I'll have more opportunities to go there. I strongly suggest you try some breakfast and you won't regret it=).

Pamela's : A restaurant review.

Okay so I'll try and make this a quick post. But let me tell you, I'm furious so I may end up rambling on and on about my disappointment.

So from time to time I'll hear about different restaurants or maybe pass by them and think that i'd like to try them. Among my list right now are: Sweet Tammy's, Deluca's, The Dor-Stop, Dozen Cupcakes, and a few others. Finally I was able to cross one of my list. Pamela's in the Strip District.

So me and my mom walk in and immediately we like the atmosphere; fun fifties paraphernalia, cute booths, funky lamps. So we sat ourselves like the sign said, and immediately someone came came over and asked us our drinks. The good, quick service was nice. So then we pulled out our menu's and sized them up. Immediately I searched for the pancake section, as they are one of my favorite things to order, like always. I had also heard so much about how Pamela's is one of the best breakfast/pancake places around and I was excited to finally be there. Okay, so they had an all right selection. Your typical strawberry, blueberry, chocolate chip banana (no plain chocolate chip but I guess you could request it), and plain of course. The thing about these pancakes is that they are served crepe-style. Not actual crepes, of course, but they roll them in the same fashion.

After careful consideration, our decisions were made. Although I'm a Pancake Nazi, none of them sounded appetizing to me (not a chocolate fan, strawberries and pancakes are a strange mixture to my palate, and blueberries and I have an off-and-on relationship. I also didn't want to just get plain ones =/.) So I settled on the California French Toast priced at $3.95 for 4 slices, reasonable I suppose. My mom naturally chose the strawberry hotcakes as she pretty much always gets strawberry anything. They were $5.95 for two. Well we assumed maybe they'd be rather big. We also concluded we would share eachother's food.

Within 10 minutes or less we had our food. Or at least one of us did. In front of me was placed an enormous pile of strawberries that probably no one person could even consume the amount in one day. Underneath was what might have been french toast. Immediately I explained how I never asked for strawberries and it was quickly fixed and a new strawberry-free plate was brought back out. But what I saw was not too much better. My California French Toast was described on the menu as, 'home style whole wheat raisin bread, soaked in a vanilla-cinnamon sugar egg batter'. Hmmm... my colorful plate was sadly less cheery with four grey-brown disks placed on it. Smaller than a cake doughnut all around, and about your plain old average bread height, these were not what I was expecting. As I am also I HUGE butter fiend I was hoping to soak them in it. But all I was given was a not quite as large as a ping pong ball, in fact smaller, clump of gross yellowy, borderline call-the-health-inspector-this-color-is-unnatural-and-this-could-be-serious, colored. Okay, so back to the dry poop disks. I didn't even try to eat the edges, on account of I couldn't even cut through them. So one bite to the middle was where I began. The inside was dry and an over-whelming egg taste were my first thoughts. Normally I'm okay with the whole egg taste thingy, 'cause I mean that is what you're soaking the bread in, but what happened to the whole '...soaked in vanilla-cinnamon sugar..."? So I took another bite. Nothing. No flavor. Like seriously, isn't this THE Pamela's. Okay, I put more butter on and looked for a good section to try (that took some searching). Blech. There were raisins, but it was like they were mocking me. When I would taste one my mouth would become very excited that I was about to be eat something sweet. Then when no more sweetness came, (due to the lack of any cinnamon sugar or vanilla flavor) I grew disappointed. My mom tried them as well and became equally displeased. We set those aside for good and moved on to the "hotcakes".

Like I said, I'm not a big fan of strawberries on my pancakes, but I tried anyway. The Strawberry Hotcakes were described as follows, "crepe pancakes stuffed with fresh strawberries, brown sugar, and sour cream". We were served two mediumish sized pancake crepes. There was also a thin little once around ring of whipped cream in the middle. A miniscule amount mind you. Remember: We paid 6 bucks for these. I cut into the middle of one of the rolled pancakes/crepes and looked inside. Boy, was it bursting with strawberries, as well as alot on top. But wait. Where was the brown sugar and sour cream? I check another area. Nada. Oh, do you want to call the 1/4 of a teaspoon sized spread on the bottom the sour cream? Well, call it what you want, but I call it cheap. I'll tell you now that I only had about one and a half bites of that thing. The pancake itself was a bit bland for my taste and the edges were practically inedibly burnt. Also, the filling of the "crepes" didn't even start until you got 1 1/2 inches in from the ends. Kinda lame. Whatever.

Isn't it misleading how that picture on the window makes you think you're going to get a lovely stack of pancakes?

We quickly paid our bill and left. We then spent the next hour or so just ranting about how disgusted and disappointed we were. No offense, but what was Obama thinking?

Okay, I'll stop now, though I could go on forever.
More to come in restaurant reviews, though. and then I'll get to tell you about my love of The Original Pancake House!!!