If you ask me a, a dutch pancake is a real breakfast show stopper. It's dead easy to make, you probably already have all of the ingredients and it contains enough butter to make it undeniably delicious. All you have to do is put together a simple eggy batter, toss it into a hot cast iron skillet, slip it into the oven and wait. Then twenty minutes later you pull out a golden souffle that has risen to curl over the sides of the pan making it a perfect vessel for a knob of butter and a sprinkling of sugar or a pile of fresh fruit if that's your style. Maybe you could make one for your mom this weekend and serve it to her on a fancy tray? Maybe someone could make one for my mom in Seattle, I'm looking at you brother. Go ahead and make her some bacon on the side too, it's mother's day.

Dutch Pancake

1/2 c flour

1/2 c milk

1T sugar

pinch salt

3 eggs

4T butter

To Serve

Melted Butter

Confectioner's Sugar

Fresh Lemon Juice

AND/OR Fruit Preserves or Maple Syrup

Preheat your oven to 425 and get out a 10'' cast iron skillet.

1. In a blender, or with an immersion blender, mix the flour, sugar, salt milk and eggs.

2. Melt the butter in the cast iron and then pour the batter mixture in.

3. Bake for 20-25 min until the pancake is puffy and golden. It will fall shortly after you remove it from the oven, that's okay!

4. Remove from the pan onto a platter and dress it up with a little more butter and a sprinkling of powdered sugar and fresh lemon juice.

I made these brownies a few weeks for a group of dudes headed to the woods for a Bucks Party (a bachelor party, for all you non Aussies). In contrast to the mini wedding cake I made for the other half of the lovely couple these brownies were dark, rich, and their only delicate quality was the perfect amount of saltiness that ran through the caramel. From what I hear, they were a very worthy accompaniment to a whole roast pig, lots of beer, and an impressive assortment of Scotch and Bourbon. Don't worry, I took them out of that pretty pink Pyrex before sending them on their way.

Sweet and Salty Brownies
adapted from BAKED: Explorations

For the Caramel

1c sugar
2T light corn syrup
1/2c heavy cream
1t fleur de sel
1/2c sour cream

1. In a medium saucepan combine the sugar, corn syrup, 1/4c water and stir together carefully. Cook this mixture over high heat until an instant read thermometer reads 350F OR until the mixture is dark amber in color (6-8min). Be careful guys, I almost burnt my caramel because my candy thermometer is a POS and I wasn't paying close enough attention.
2. Remove from heat and slowly add the cream, then the salt, then the sour cream. Set aside to cool.

Note: This recipe makes more than enough caramel for the brownie assembly. Use the extra to serve with the brownies or to make awesome brownie ice-cream sundaes.

For the Brownies

1 1/4c flour
2T unsweetened cocoa powder
1t fleur de sel
11oz dark chocolate, chopped (I used valrhona)
1c unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 1/2c sugar
1/2c packed light brown sugar
5 large eggs, room temp
2t vanilla

Preheat oven to 350, line a 9x13 baking dish with buttered parchment or aluminum foil

1. In a medium bowl whisk the flour, salt and cocoa powder
2. Put the chocolate and butter in the bowl of a double boiler set over simmering water and stir occasionally until chocolate and butter are melted. Take the bowl from the heat, add both sugars and whisk until thoroughly combined.
2. Add three eggs to the mixture and whisk until just combined, add the remaining eggs and vanilla.
3. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture and fold to combine, do not overbeat or your brownies will be cakey instead of fudgy.

To finish
1 1/2t fleur de sel
1t coarse sugar (demerara and turbinado sugar would work great for this)

To assemble

Pour half of the brownie mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the top with an offset spatula. Drizzle about 1/2c of the caramel over top while being careful to make sure the caramel doesn't come into contact with the edge of the pan. Gently spread the caramel into an even layer. Finish by topping the caramel layer with big dollops of the remaining brownie batter and gently smooth the top.

Bake the brownies for 30min, rotating the pan halfway through. The brownies are done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.