This dreamy pear oven pancake makes a special breakfast or brunch thanks to cardamom-spiked pears and an easy dutch baby batter. Simple to make with 10 ingredients and 15 minutes of active time.
If you're looking for a wower of a breakfast recipe, look no further than this cardamom pear baked pancake.
A cousin of the dutch baby, this oven pancake combines a simple eggy batter with baked pears. A touch of sugar sweetens the dish, while cardamom adds its cozy flavor. Top the whole thing off with a dusting of powdered sugar and drizzle of maple syrup for a cozy dish that works well for breakfast or brunch – and even dessert! For an extra-decadent treat, top slices with a billow of creamy whipped mascarpone.
Like my 30-minute poached pears, this recipe is a great way to use pears that are firm-ripe. A brief stint in a skillet with sugar and butter softens them up, and they get cooked further in the heat of the oven.
If you don't have pears, never fear. This recipe works well with peeled and sliced apples (similar to the apple buckwheat puff pancake in my award-winning cookbook Alternative Baker, which is also gluten-free) or with stone fruit and/or berries, like this berry peach oven pancake that I also shared using the same formula.
I first shared this recipe in 2010, when TBG was just 1 year old. At the time, I was eating wheat flour, which I used in this recipe. Nowadays my recipes are all gluten-free, and I've added a gluten-free option to use in place of the all-purpose flour in the recipe card. Below is my original text from 2010.
The end of summer always comes as a bit of a shock. I'm not talking about the lack of beach days, road trips or forest hikes - I'm a spoiled Californian, after all, and can enjoy these activities nearly year-round.
No, I'm talking about breakfast.
There is a time of the year, usually in late October or early November, where yogurt, fruit and granola simply stop being appealing. The 'last chance' peaches sit, neglected and rotting, in the airing cupboard. The jar of Saint Benoit yogurt remains in the fridge, untouched. And the granola jar has long run dry.
For someone who spent her first 12 years of life eschewing breakfast, I certainly give it a lot of thought these days!
So what does one make on a chilly morning for a quick breakfast?
Well, lately I've been simmering oatmeal with an apple grated into it. But that's not particularly exciting, now is it? (Still, I may bore you with it in a later blog post.)
If you're not in a rush, though, you can have this glorious baked pancake puffed and ready to eat in less than an hour.
The other day I was seduced at Rainbow Grocery Co-op not by a cute produce worker (sadly), but rather some slender and fragrant Japanese pears. Their skin was sticky to the touch, and they smelled of tropical fruits, like guava or passion fruit. I came upon this Deborah Madison recipe in my favorite cookbook Local Flavors (affiliate link), which I've been wanting to try since I purchased the book seven years ago, and mixed up the batter. I lovingly sliced the pears, and with much anticipation, tasted one-
-and realized my error! It was a secret Asian pear - tasty, but crisp and almost watery; certainly not a pear you would want to bake with. I guess the 'Japanese' bit should have tipped me off, but in my defense, they looked nothing like the apple-round 'Asian pears' I was used to seeing.
But I made the pancake thingy anyway, and despite the lack of 'buttery' (as the recipe calls for) pears, it was still awesome. Dramatically puffed from the oven, it was a sight to behold. The barely sweet batter encased lightly-caramelized pears flecked with freshly ground cardamom. The crusty brown edges made a satisfying contrast to the delicate interior, and despite my greatest fears, the pears tasted tender and, well, pear-like. Drizzled with a bit of warm maple syrup, it felt decadent and nourishing all at once.
I compared this gluten-free cherry clafoutis to an oven pancake, so it probably won't be particularly helpful when I compare the texture of this oven pancake to a clafoutis. But I'm gonna do it anyway.
This is like a breakfast version of clafoutis. Where clafoutis is rich and sweet, this batter contains milk, rather than half and half, and no sugar (2 tablespoons flavor the pears, but the batter itself contains none.) Clafoutis puffs a bit, but not nearly as much as this bad boy. Clafoutis would be offended if you deigned to pour maple syrup over it, but this pancake begs for it shamelessly.
I casually studied Traditional Chinese Medicine for a time (I did live in Santa Cruz, after all), and learned that baking foods in the oven makes them not only hot in temperature but warming to the body, having been slowly infused with heat. Whether you buy this or not, turning on the oven undeniably warms up the house. It is said that pears benefit the lungs, important during flu season, and cardamom, a warming spice, aids digestion and increases spleen chi. (I won't go into all the smack they talk about sugar, eggs and dairy, though.)
See? Even Chinese medicine agrees - this is an ideal breakfast for fall. It may not be quick enough to make before work, but it is simple enough to throw together on a leisurely bojon morning.
And nearly as virtuous as a granola bowl.
Bojon appétit! For more Bojon Gourmet in your life, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, or Pinterest, purchase my award-winning gluten-free baking cookbook Alternative Baker, or subscribe to receive new posts via email. And if you make this pear baked pancake, I’d love to know. Leave a comment and rating below, and tag your Instagram snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet and #bojongourmet.
Baked Pancake with Pear and Cardamom
Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour*
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 - 3 medium pears, ripe but firm, cut off the core and sliced ¼- ½-inch thick
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- juice of ½ a lemon
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- powdered sugar for dusting (optional)
- maple syrup for drizzling
Equipment
Instructions
- Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400ºF. Place the butter in a 10-inch cast iron (or other oven proof) skillet and put in the oven to melt.
- Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl, make a well, and add the eggs. Whisk to combine, adding the milk little by little until the batter is smooth. Whisk in the vanilla and about two-thirds of the melted butter. Set aside.
- Heat the skillet with the remaining butter over a medium flame, and brush some of the butter around the rim of the skillet. Toss in the pears, cardamom, lemon juice and sugar. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the pears are tender and the sugars are beginning to caramelize, about 10 minutes.
- Pour the batter into the hot pan over the pears and place in the oven. Bake until golden and dramatically puffed, as though trying to escape from the pan, about 25 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar and cut into wedges. Drizzle with maple syrup and serve immediately.
- Leftovers, should there be any, reheat beautifully in a toaster oven in 5 or 10 minutes.
pheebes says
Thanks so much for the lovely Saturday breakfast idea. Without pears or cardamom on hand I went with a few honey crisp apples and some nutmeg and cinnamon. The leftovers were gone by 5pm! I will definitely have to try with pears and cardamom next time. Thanks again!
Sue says
I canned pears this fall, they are still quite firm so I'm hoping they will work for this recipe. It is absolutely beautiful, makes me want to dig right in!
Darlene says
Oh Yum!!!! Gonna try this soon, even with summer on its way down under!
Thanks so much for sharing the recipe.
kimmiebee says
ummmm....lovely! this looks great to make and share with some guests this weekend!
Joelle says
Yum! I made this with apples since that was what we had and it was delicious. So easy and so gratifying to watch it puff up so nicely. Can't wait to eat the leftovers for breakfast at work tomorrow. My coworkers are going to be jealous.
Linda says
Did you also use the cardamom and Apples? Didn’t know how well it would go together.
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
I like cardamom with apples, but you could swap in cinnamon for a more traditional flavor profile if you prefer. Let me know what you try!
alanna says
Thank you all for your sweet comments! Pheebes and Joelle - I'm so glad you liked it! Sue - I'm sure your home canned pears would work beautifully; you probably don't need to saute them much at all. Cheers!
kimmiebee says
finally made this with my new pan from Christmas! :) turned out delicious! I also have the book with the original recipe, but appreciated your notes and pictures tremendously! thanks so much! yum oh yum!
Alanna says
That's fantastic, Kimmiebee - thanks!
Emily Betzler says
I knew this was going to be good but not THIS good! I made it with 100% whole wheat flour because I couldn't find the white all-purpose. Sometimes using whole wheat makes the end product taste a little funny or do something you weren't expecting but I think it worked well. It didn't make a concerted effort to escape from the skillet but it still puffed nicely and the whole wheat flavor lent itself nicely to the pears! Definitely going on my list of favorite breakfast dishes to whip out and impress people with!
Alanna says
I'm so glad you liked it, Emily! Good to know whole wheat flour works so well. Thanks for the comment, and happy cooking. :)
Mini says
I can't wait to try this. Looks simple and fab. I am going to try to make this as gluten free as possible.
Alanna says
Thanks, Mini! Please let me know how it comes out - I've been wondering how a GF version would work. :)
Todd Chance says
Thanks for the recipe! Was a lovely 'snowed-in' brunch treat with coffee.
T.
Alanna says
So glad to hear it - thanks, Todd!
Sara says
This was a delightfully decadent Sunday morning breakfast. So easy to whip together too. Thank you!
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
So glad you enjoyed it!
Ann says
I used a stainless steel pan with copper bottom. I used Anjou pears or something close to that, peeled. It was super tasty. I probably over- caramelized the pears slightly. The edges raised a lot and were a bit burned in the hot oven. I just snipped them off. The two of us ate the whole thing. I wouldn’t change any ingredient. It did not stick in the pan - it came out easily.
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
I'm so glad you loved the baked pear pancake and that it worked well in that pan! You might try lowering your oven temp a bit to see if it prevents the edges from burning next time, or you could try baking it lower in the oven. Thanks so much for the sweet note and rating, I really appreciate it!