Dutch Baby Pancakes with Blueberries (Finnish Pannukakku)

This delicious Pannukakku Finnish Pancake with Wild Blueberries is also quick and easy. Flavoured with lemon zest and topped with wild blueberries, it's also served with a delicious maple syrup and wild blueberry sauce.

¾ cup frozen wild blueberries, divided
¼ cup pure maple syrup
1 cup whole milk
4 eggs
½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 ½ tsp. lemon zest, freshly grated
1 cup all-purpose flour, unbleached
½ tsp. kosher or sea salt
¼ cup white sugar
¼ cup butter, melted

Garnish:
icing sugar, for dusting
lemon zest

Take ½ cup of the frozen wild blueberries and place in a small bowl with the ¼ cup of maple syrup. Stir to combine, then set aside. Measure out ¼ more of wild blueberries and set aside to sprinkle on the batter before baking.

Place your oven-safe baking dish onto the middle rack of your oven and preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C/200°C fan, Gas Mark 7).

While oven is preheating, mix your batter in a medium bowl by combining the milk, eggs, vanilla, lemon zest, flour, salt and sugar. Whisk very well until no lumps remain. Set aside. Melt the butter and have ready.

When the oven is preheated, remove the pan from the oven and immediately pour in the melted butter. Quickly brush up the sides of the pans, then pour in the prepared batter. Top with reserved ¼ of blueberries.

Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until set, very puffy and deep golden brown on the top edges. Note to check it at about 15 minutes. Mine was very brown on top, so I place a sheet of foil loosely overtop to prevent further browning and then let it cook a few more minutes, until set.

Remove from oven. Pancake will deflate. Once deflated and while still warm, cut into squares and remove to serving plates. Garnish with icing sugar and additional lemon zest. Pass the blueberry maple syrup sauce for spooning on top.

Makes 5 servings.

Cook's Notes:

• The original recipe featured Birch syrup instead of maple syrup. While Birch syrup is delicious, it is hard to find and VERY expensive ($25 for ½ a cup expensive). The maple syrup was perfect with the blueberries and the pancakes instead, though I do recommend real maple syrup if at all possible.
• As noted above, adjust this recipe down to make a smaller dish or to serve fewer people. The recipe is conveniently easy to calculate down by quarters. I used ¾ of the recipe for my 8x10" pan shown here. Halve the recipe for an 8x8" pan. My 8x10" pan made 4 generous size squares.
• I would use a fuller fat milk if you can. Whole (3.5%) would be best, but I used 2% and it was fine.
• Look for wild frozen blueberries in with the frozen fruit at your grocer. President's choice has them here in Canada. Wild blueberries are smaller and pack much more blueberry flavour, which is always a good thing.
• I didn't warm my blueberry maple sauce (and yes, it was fully thawed by the time my dish was cooked and pretty much at room temperature). If you are using larger blueberries though, it may be quite cold or slightly frozen still. If so, pop into the microwave for a few seconds (or set out a little earlier to thaw). You could warm the sauce in a small saucepan, if you like.