Kaiserschmarrn (Austrian Pancakes)

The workaway experience.

I know you’re after the recipe for Kaiserschmarrn but I have to tell you how I first came across this recipe.

Back in February 2015  Daniel and I welcomed our first workawayer into our home. In case you’re not at all familiar with the workaway program, here are the details. By opening your home to an overseas traveller and giving them both a room to stay in and food, they provide you with up to 25 hours of work a week.

In the last 3.5 years, we’ve had more workawayers stay with us than I can count. Both singles and couples have been here and the help they provided varied depending on their skills. If it’s just one person, they help to mind our two girls and do basic housework. When it’s two people they also help us in our family business or with some renovations. Over the years we’ve had our house painted on the inside, ceiling fans installed, light fittings swapped, a hedge in our backyard removed. All this for free. Well… with the exception of some extra electricity to heat water for their showers and food on the table for them. Quite a deal really! Plus, it’s given our girls a chance to become adaptable to change and learn about different cultures at the same time.

So back to our first workawayers. Alex and Misale from Austria – they were 18 and 19 years old. Being our first, I asked them to cook us a traditional meal from their country. This has since become a tradition with our workawayers. I have to admit, not all workawayers can cook. However, those that can treat us to amazing authentic food from all around the world. Alex and Misale made us pork schnitzels with potato salad for dinner. Then for dessert they made Kaiserschmarrn – a typical Austrian pancake.

Kaiserschmarrn or Austrian Pancakes makes a wonderful family dessert.
Kaiserschmarrn or Austrian Pancakes makes a wonderful family dessert.

It’s hard to describe. Kaiserschmarrn is a light pancake that’s sort of like a souffle. It’s made from a sweet batter using flour, eggs, sugar, salt, and milk that’s cooked in the frying pan. You separate the egg whites from the yolk and beat until stiff. This is honestly the hardest part of the recipe. Then you mix the flour and the yolks with sugar. You can add other ingredients such as nuts, cherries, plums or raisins but I haven’t tried it with this and what you add is totally based on your personal preference. Once cooked, you tear up the pancake with two forks, sprinkle the pieces with icing sugar and serve with poached fruit or compote on top.


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Kaiserschmarrn or Austrian Pancakes makes a wonderful family dessert.

Kaiserschmarrn (Austrian Pancakes)

Kaiserschmarrn or Austrian Pancake is an easy family friendly dessert to make. Made with beaten egg whites, it's light and fluffy in texture. Served hot with either homemade compote or stewed fruit on top.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 4 people

Ingredients
 

  • 4 Eggs, separated
  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • pinch salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 tablespoons white sugar
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • powdered sugar to sprinkle over pancakes

Instructions
 

  • Mix together egg yolks, flour, milk, salt, baking powder and sugar until well mixed. Set aside and let batter stand for 10 minutes.
  • Beat egg whites until stiff. Gently fold egg whites into batter while making sure the spoon continues in one direction to maximise air volume of the egg whites.
  • In a frying pan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Pour in batter and fry until cooked on bottom.
  • Flip pancake, adding the remaining butter, and continue to cook on the other side until crispy. Using two forks, shred the pancake into pieces and continue cooking for an extra minute at most.
  • Serve, dusted with icing sugar. Accompany with fruit compote or stewed fruit. Would work well with fresh berries such as strawberries, blueberries and raspberries too.

Notes

Compote is a European form of stewed fruit where pieces of fruit is cooked in water with sugar and spices. The syrup can be seasoned with vanillalemon or orange peel, cinnamon sticks or powder to name a few. You can serve the compote either warm or cold. In this recipe photo I made a strawberry and rhubarb compote with vanilla and a hint of cinnamon.

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