Easy baked Cranberry Orange Dutch Baby a stunning crispy pancake recipe perfect for the holidays!

Top view of Cranberry Orange Dutch Baby in a cast-iron skillet

Easy Cranberry Orange Dutch Baby baked till crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. A stunning festive breakfast recipe that’s perfect for the holidays!

Do you ever just grab a magazine off the rack at the grocery store because the photo is so beautiful you can’t resist?

I was waiting in line at the grocery store with Cason the other day, getting ready to check out. I had all my groceries separated and everything set to go. My eyes started to wander toward the magazines and as I was working my way towards the bottom of the magazine stand I saw a gorgeous picture of a holiday meal. I picked up the magazine and started to flip through the pages, one gorgeous picture after another! I knew I had to have it. So of course I threw it on top of my pile of groceries.

I’m such a sucker for food magazines at the grocery store, especially if there are tacos on the front page. This magazine was the holiday addition of Better Homes & Gardens and filled with all kinds of goodies. One of them was a dutch baby recipe.

I’ve actually never made a dutch baby before. In fact, for the longest time I didn’t know what they were. My sister-in-law use to make them all the time. Whenever we’d be at her house she’d have leftovers in a skillet from earlier that day or the day before.

So what is a dutch baby?

Essentially it is a large pancake made in a skillet but cooked in the oven. The edges puff up and get crispy on the outside but the inside has the same texture as a pancake. Um… guys. They are delicious! Now I know why my sister-in-law made them all the time. They are way easier than pancakes and have great texture to them.

Because I didn’t know how to make them I went to the ever so helpful Pinterest and the first article that pulled up was from The Kitchn.

Here are a few things I learned that are essential to making the BEST dutch baby.

Having a HOT skillet. Make sure you put the skillet in the oven to heat up while you’re making the batter. When you pull the skillet out and add the butter it should sizzle like crazy!
Let your batter rest for a bit to let the flour soak up the liquid.
If you’re making a dutch baby with fruit, add the fruit first then the batter. If you add the fruit after the you pour the batter in, the dutch baby will be “weighed down” and won’t have that beautiful puffed up look to it.

If you’re able to stick to these pointers you should be good to go and have one gorgeous looking dutch baby!

I’m officially hooked on Dutch Baby’s now. Not only is this Cranberry Orange Dutch Baby absolutely gorgeous to look at but it really is perfect for the holidays. It would be a great breakfast to wake up to Christmas morning and the kids will love having a pancake that looks like a piece of pizza.

I hope you give this recipe a shot, I know you’ll love how easy it is to make and the flavor is on point. Once you make your first dutch baby and have the “base recipe” down it’s very versatile and can be switched up with whatever flavor you’d like as the seasons change.

Happy Holidays my friends and Bon Appetit!