As a rule, I don't do fancy breakfasts. Let me correct that: I don't make fancy breakfasts. I am not a morning person (anyone who knows me is laughing at the understatement). I will however, eat a fancy breakfast if it is presented to me.

My roommate, Claire, is a morning person. Nothing makes her happier than to get up and get outside. Also unlike me, she has the metabolism of a vole. That woman needs food, and she does food at what (to me) are ungodly hours of the A.M.

This morning she woke me up (unusual) saying I wouldn't want to miss breakfast. She was right.

Claire's Puffy Pancake

4 large eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup spelt flour

a lot of butter

powdered sugar
lemon juice

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Melt a lot of butter (1 stick? She said 1 stick, but I wasn't in the room to see it) in a 10" cast iron frying pan.

Mix eggs, milk, vanilla and flour together until smooth. Pour immediately into hot buttered pan and place immediately into oven.

Bake for about 8 minutes until it is very puffy and brown. (Claire left the oven light on and watched until it looked right.) Remove from oven, sprinkle top generously with powdered sugar and drizzle with lemon juice. Slice and serve.

Claire said her mother had gotten the recipe from an old brunch cookbook and Claire herself had been making it since she was twelve years old. She tells me the secret ("Which my mom never does...") is to have the butter sizzling hot when the batter is added and to place it immediately into the preheated oven.

Whatever she says--it was delicious! And I was blogging by 9 A.M.

Tags: breakfast, pancakes, spelt