Sunday Morning Puffy Pancakes

We wake up slowly. It's Sunday morning and time twists and bends to our pleasure. I drift barefoot into our kitchen and make these puffy pancakes. They remind me of being little and hot steam shouting "pouf!" into our mouths. They remind me of my mother and her sweet way of making breakfast sweet and kind. She always made muffins, cinnamon rolls, oatmeal, and these pancakes, among many other things. I always remember the way my mom ate. She had an especially beautiful way of always looking like her food tasted so delicious. She used to sit on a stool and look out onto our garden, eating rice crackers topped with almond butter and sipping hot water. I will always remember watching her do this, and always thinking that it looked so delicious. One time I asked her to make me some--Upon eating it myself, I found it entirely unappetizing.
I digress.

This recipe is a compilation of many different puffy pancake recipes that I have squirreled away in my every expanding recipe book. Aaron doesn't like cooked fruit (something I have endlessly tried to change) so I made his plain. You can add any addition of fruit to these, or leave it as a topping. I got the idea of cooking each pancake separately from Smitten Kitchen, which I loved, because it also meant that I got to put apples in mine and leave Aaron's simple.

Puffy Personal Pancakes 
Adapted from a random magazine cutout and Smitten Kitchen
Yields 2 pancakes

4 eggs
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup flour
2/3 cup milk
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 tsp vanilla
For Apple variation:
2 apples granny smith or otherwise
2 tablespoons butter for cooking
1 tsp cinnamon

Powdered sugar for dusting

*Note: I believe that this recipe is usually made with a real blender, but all we have is an immersion blender. After a short hissy fit because I was trying to skirt corners and not melt the butter, everything turned out fine, thanks to Aarons patience. If using an immersion blender, I recommend using melted butter. If you are using a regular blender, you'll probably be okay with softened butter.

Preheat oven to 400. Butter two 9 inch cake pans.

If using apples, slice thinly. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a cast iron skillet. Cook apples in skillet until soft. Add cinnamon and stir.

Combine eggs in blender. Blend briefly until broken and pale. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend on high until smoothy incorporated.
Divide apples into the two buttered pans. Pour cake batter over the two pans. Put in the oven and bake at 400 for 20 min, then reduce heat to 350 and cook for another 5.

Serve hot with powdered sugar and fruit.