Ugnspannkaka means "oven pancake" in Swedish and it's a Scandinavian treat. A few gut-friendly swaps and it's just as bubbly and delicious.
Growing up in Minnesota with the last name Anderson, I was exposed to certain Scandinavian foods — some less fisky than others. I love pickled herring, Swedish meatballs, lingonberries, Swedish sausage, lutefisk (not so much) and ugnspannkaka. Especially the last one!
Ugnspannkaka is traditionally made with milk, eggs, flour, sugar and vanilla and served with lingonberries. It's a simple recipe that yields an airy, oven pancake. But it's so much more than that. What happens in the oven is quite a show, and something that never ceases to bring out the inner food geek in me.
As a child, I remember peering into the window to watch the dish come alive bubbling doubling, tripling and quadrupling in size. The eggy, custardy oven pancake seemed to take on a life of its own. Sometimes I imagined it growing legs and leaping out of the pan. No two ugnspannkakas were the same. But each one tasted like home.
Superfood LINGONBERRIES have twice the polyphenols as cranberry! Finnish scientists proved in a rat study that the fruit protects the inner linings of blood vessels, and a Canadian study showed the berry helped block vessel damage that leads to kidney disease, eye disease and circulation problems in people with diabetes.
The ugnspannkaka I grew up eating has ingredients that are problematic for people with sensitivity to gluten and other lectins. My LFG version is made with eggs from my backyard hens, which I pasture and feed a very low-lectin diet along with flax seeds for eggs rich in Omega-3s. I realize not everyone can raise chickens, so buy Omega-3 or pastured eggs if you can find them. I also use grassfed a2 milk, my special LFG flour blend, arrowroot starch, vanilla and monk fruit sweetener instead of sugar. For maximum drama, use a hot oven. Read on for the full recipe.
The Recipe
LFG Ugnspannkaka
2 T Grassfed Butter
4 Pastured Eggs
1/2 Cup a2 Milk or Almond Milk
2 T Arrowroot Starch
4 T LFG Flour Blend*
2 t Monk Fruit Sweetener (crystals)
1/2 t Vanilla Extract
* 2:1:1 cassava, coconut and almond flours
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Melt the butter in the microwave for 30 seconds. Pour into a 9 inch pie glass and swirl around to coat the bottom and the sides.
Next, make the ugnspannkaka batter. In a blender (I love my Vitamix), blend the 4 eggs on high for 30 seconds until yellow and fluffy. Add the milk, starch, flour, monk fruit and vanilla. Blend on high for another 30 seconds. Pour into the prepared pie glass. Slide onto middle rack in oven and bake for 18 - 20 minutes. Watch as the ugnspannkaka bubbles and comes alive. Who needs TV?
When your ugnspannkaka is golden brown and lofty, remove from oven and serve immediately. Plate with lingonberries, whipped coconut cream or heavy grassfed cream and dust with confectioners Swerve. Some people also like ugnspannkaka with maple syrup.
Pairs great with a glass of bubbly! Skol!