If you're looking for a good breakfast in bed treat for Valentine's Day, I think this is a winner. Brett found this in our Bon Appetit Fast, Easy, Fresh cookbook and I must confirm that it was indeed fast, easy, and fresh. Brett peeled and thinly sliced the apple (the recipe called for two but we only had one) and I did everything else.
I preheated the oven to 425 degrees and melted 1/4 cup of butter right in the bottom of the 9x13 pan that we were planning to use. I also whisked together 1 cup of milk, 4 eggs, 3 T sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 salt, and 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon. I received some Ceylon Cinnamon from Penzey's Spices for Christmas and since it's supposed to be good with fruit, decided to try it in this recipe.
Once the butter was melted, I spread out all the little apple slices in the bottom of the pan and put it back in the oven for 10 minutes.
This is where I almost messed up the entire breakfast. I almost forgot to whisk 2/3 cup of flour into the batter. I was a split second away from pouring the batter over the apples when I realized it. Yikes! After adding the flour, I poured it over the top. I kind of expected the apples to stay at the bottom, but some popped right up to the top. It didn't seem to matter. Then I sprinkled 3 T of brown sugar over the top.
Back in the oven it went for 20 minutes and when it came out it was all puffy and golden and smelled amazing. After a minute or so, and certainly after you cut it, it deflates quite a bit.
The recipe says this makes four servings, so we each started out with 1/4 of the pan. But I will confess that we ate the entire thing in one sitting. We loved it. It is a little custardy, and reminded me of bread pudding without the chunks of bread. It's one of those borderline breakfast/dessert dishes, but when you think about it, the best breakfasts are like that. Try it, you will love it!
