Here it is, Christmas Eve morning. Already.
And, of course, the run-up to tonight, what with scrambling to get all of those loose ends tied up in time, as always, always seems to be the case, is nothing less than flat-out, frantically busy, not to mention unbelievably hectic and — well — downright frazzling.
Especially with Christmas Eve arriving, as it surely has again this year, right on top of great ideas or plans in the works for making this or that, scads of which had to be shoved on the shelf until right this minute, unavoidably delayed and some scrapped entirely, necessitating the conjuring up of some crafty replacement or other.
And this miserable, not-our-fault timing/scheduling glitch is due entirely to nothing more or less than this nasty spell of bitter cold, ice and snow.
Let’s not forget to add into this nerve-twizzling mix the recurring power and phone outages a lot of us have had, too.
In fact, things have been so tough, you might still be wondering what in the boobearhiss to fix for Christmas morning breakfast or brunch.
Something special. Something festive. Something dandy and different.
Plus, and here’s the important part — the piece of the puzzle everything hinges on — something guaranteed to work for you and still please the family, too.
But be we of good faith, as always we are, we now rejoice, rejoice, because here’s that something.
It comes to us courtesy of Bothell cook Jackie Saarela, who thoughtfully included the how-to along with a handful of other Finnish pancake recipes.
“My family loves this oven apple pancake,” she says. “And it’s delicious and filling.”
What’s more, aside from a breakfast or brunch main dish, rounded out, if the whim strikes you or if extra heft is needed to feed some hungry teenage boys, with ham, bacon, link or patty sausage (or, smoked sausages to carry out the Finnish theme), the recipe itself, as taken from “The Finnish Cookbook,” mentions the pancake will even stand in as a dessert or as an accompaniment for coffee.
Let’s thank Jackie for sharing this timely triple-duty recipe for:
BAKED APPLE PANCAKE (OMENAPANNUKAKKU)
4 eggs
11/2cups milk
1/2teaspoon salt
2tablespoons sugar
2cups sifted flour
3tart apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1/2cup sugar
3teaspoons cinnamon
3tablespoons butter
Cream
In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs until thick, then add the milk, salt and 2 tablespoons sugar. Sift in the flour, mixing it in well. Let the batter stand for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the apples. Make the cinnamon sugar: Stir together the 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon, mixing thoroughly, so the cinnamon is evenly distributed throughout the sugar. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Butter well two 8- or 9-inch round cake pans and sprinkle with part of the cinnamon sugar. Arrange the sliced apples in the pans. Sprinkle the apples with the remaining cinnamon sugar and dot evenly with the butter.
Pour the pancake batter over the apples, dividing it evenly between the pans. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the top of each pancake is golden and set. Serve hot (this is best served immediately, although it can be reheated before serving.), cut into wedges.
The pancakes can be served plain or with cream to pour over each serving.
Makes 2 pancakes, which can be cut into 10 to 12 wedges.
The Forum is always happy to receive your contributions and requests, so don’t hesitate to send them along to Judyrae Kruse at the Forum, c/o The Herald, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206.
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The next Forum will appear in Friday’s Time Out section. Meanwhile, we here at the Forum wish each and every one of you a wonderful, memorable, very Merry Christmas!
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