Kaiserschmarrn is, without a doubt, the quintessential Austrian dish. You can describe it as a thick, airy, torn-up, caramelized pancake. But the emperor loved it. And he wasn't the only one. Traditionally, it's finished with raisins, but here we've gone for a version with almonds. But first, the recipe; afterward, we'll delve into the entire history.

How to make Austrian Kaiserschmarrn?

Making the dough for Kaiserschmarrn

The dough for Kaiserschmarrn is similar to pancake batter. First, we mix the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, vanilla sugar.

Then we add the egg yolks and milk to the dry ingredients.

Next, we beat the egg whites until stiff and gently fold them into the batter. We now have a very airy pancake batter.

Baking the Kaiserschmarrn

After that, we heat butter in a large pan. Note, you really need a large pan here. For a normal pancake, we would pour about one ladle into the pan. For Kaiserschmarrn, we do not; in this case, we put the batter into the pan all at once.

We then let it bake in the pan for four to five minutes. Meanwhile, we preheat the oven to 180°C.

After five minutes, we sprinkle the almond flakes over the batter in the pan. Then the entire pan goes into the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until the almonds are browned. Check with a skewer if the batter is cooked.

Now take the pan out of the oven. Be careful, it's scorching hot! Now use a spatula, a pancake cutter, or similar to cut the thick, airy pancake into irregular pieces. Be careful not to damage the pan. And that you don't burn yourself.

Meanwhile, we heat a second pan on the stove. In it, we melt butter again, in which we also caramelize sugar. We now bake the cut-up Kaiserschmarrn for a few more minutes. This ensures that the unique taste experience of Kaiserscharrn finally comes to fruition: airy from the thick pancake batter, crispy from the caramelization, sweet and necessary (especially with the almonds).

Then serve the warm Kaiserschmarrn on plates and finish them with icing sugar. They are often also served with applesauce or plum puree. However, for me, that is not necessary.

Austrian Kaiserschmarrn, an oven or a pan recipe?

I prefer to make Austrian Kaiserschmarrn in the oven. That way, you can really make a thick variant that is very airy. The advantage of the oven is that the pancake bakes evenly.

However, with a few adjustments, you can also make them in a pan. Then you have to bake them thinner because, of course, you can never get that very thick pancake properly cooked with just the heat from below.

Therefore, bake a thick pancake with, for example, two ladles of batter. Let it bake for a few minutes and then cut the dough into four parts with a spatula. Turn them over so they bake on the other side as well. Then cut them into smaller pieces and finally caramelize them in another pan with butter and sugar.

The story of Kaiserschmarrn

The history of Kaiserschmarrn dates back to the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph (1830 - 1916). He was very fond of it and set the trend in this way.

But the story goes that it actually concerns failed crepes. 'Schmarrn' means something like nonsense or mess. They were crepes that were baked too thickly, which the kitchen staff did not find suitable to serve to the emperor. They were then cut up and caramelized a bit to somewhat save them. Thus, it became a hit, and a failed dessert was transformed into a national dish.

More surprising.pancake

Are you a pancake lover? In all sizes and shapes? Then you should definitely try the following surprising recipes besides this Austrian Kaiserschmarrn:

If you speak Dutch, you can find the Dutch version of this recipe on gerechtenweb.blog.