Ina Garten's Pan Trick For Individual Dutch Baby Pancakes

There's a lot to love about Dutch baby pancakes. The versatile oven-baked treats are sort of like regular pancakes, sort of like popovers, and can be served sweet or savory depending on your preference. Dutch babies are usually cooked in large oven-safe cast iron skillets, resulting in a substantially sized pancake that feeds multiple people. But sometimes you want the fluffy yet chewy perfection of a Dutch baby pancake for one without the stress of cleaning your cast iron pan — although, you can find several common kitchen items that are perfect for this. Ina Garten, queen of lowkey genius cooking hacks (like her no-boil lasagna noodles and her mess-free salad dressing trick), has the perfect solution.

In her cookbook, "Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics," Garten shares a recipe for tri-berry oven pancakes in which she recommends baking the individual cakes in small gratin pans. This creates what are essentially single-portion Dutch babies. Although Garten doesn't officially call these Dutch baby pancakes, they do meet all the basic requirements, including being cooked in hot butter and having a delightfully puffy texture.

Dutch baby pancakes take inspiration from German Pfannkuchen pancakes and were allegedly conceived at Manca's Cafe in Seattle in the early 20th century. As the story goes, the owner's daughter mispronounced Deutsch as Dutch, the family joke ultimately inspiring the dish's name. From this, Dutch baby pancakes were born. The buttery oven-baked delicacies were an instant hit, and nowadays recipes for them abound — including miniature versions.

Some recipes call for making bite-size Dutch baby pancakes in muffin tins. This is adorable but pushes the line between Dutch babies and popovers. Making individual Dutch babies in small gratin pans is a genius innovation because these dishes are perfectly sized and are designed to stand up to intense heat. This allows you to cook up as many individual servings as you like. It's the perfect choice for a brunch or breakfast gathering and means you can enjoy pancakes without having to stand over the stove all morning. Besides being incredibly cute and convenient, it's worth making Ina Garten's version just so you can tell everyone that you ate baby Dutch babies (sorry, we had to).