Eggbabies: The Kitchen-Sink Breakfast Souffle

There's an expression about how you won't know what you've learned from a job until years later. The same goes for those we date. This recipe is the best thing to have come from a relationship I had about 15 years ago.

In this way the girlfriend served her purpose. She gave me delicious eating I could rely on and impress others with for years to come. The nomenclatures are many: Eggbabies, Dutch pancakes, Dutch Baby Pancakes. In the end they're about the same: flour, milk, eggs, butter, salt, sugar and one very hot oven.

The best thing about the Eggbaby is that you can make it drunk, hung-over, in the morning or as a midnight snack. For a proper occasion you may serve it with marmalade and milk tea, but the common topping is fresh squeezed lemon halves and powdered sugar.

Because seeing it on a restaurant menu is rare, the Eggbaby can be your ace in the hole. Invite them over, bid two spades and play your hand smoothly. The recipe, although finesse-able, is as easy being the "dummy."

EGG BABIES

2C All Purpose Flour**
1 1/4 teaspoons Kosher Salt**
3-6 Tablespoons Sugar**
2-4 Large Eggs, preferably room temperature
1 1/2 Cups Whole Milk
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted**
@ 1 Tablespoon of butter for coating pan
Lemons
Confectioners Sugar

**these mark substitutable ingredients, explained at the end.

Tools:
1 Large mixing bowl, whisk, spatula, liquid measuring cup, small saute pan for melting butter. I use an enamel cast iron frying pan or my well seasoned cast iron skillet for baking, but you may also bake little ones in the ramekins of your choosing.

1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Place preferred baking vessel in oven.
3. In a large bowl mix all drys until combined. Create a "well" in center.
4. Melt butter.
5. Crack eggs into measured milk.
6. Pour milk/eggs into center of drys and whisk, from center out, until almost uniformly combined.
7. While just barely whisking the mixture, pour in melted butter and whisk until just combined.
8. Carefully pull hot pan from oven and swirl about a tablespoon of butter in bottom to melt and coat.
9. Pour batter into hot pan, using spatula to get out every last bit.
10. Place in oven, do the dishes, set the table, slice one lemon per person, and sift the confectioner's sugar if you're picky.
11. Depending on how your oven behaves, take a peek at about the 20 minute mark.
The Eggbaby souffle is done when sides are browned and puffed like a trumpet player's cheeks.

Take it from the oven nonchalantly and wait coolly for the oohs and ahhs. Slice in wedges and serve with lemons or your favorite seasonal conserve.

**This recipe is, by far, one of the most malleable recipes I know. I have added to the Eggbaby batter: leftover cooked rice, raw or cooked oats and farro, cornmeal, buckwheat flour, brown sugar, raw sugar, and sea salt from many an ocean. My favorite new addition is browned butter both in the oven pan and in the recipe. On the days I want it jiggly like custard I add more eggs and milk. Sometimes I do something crazy like add a small splash of rose water to the batter.

No matter if your Eggbabies are savoury, barely sweet, baked individually or doubled in size, they are sure to astound and delight, becoming a mainstay in your breakfast repertoire.