Aebleskiver

We live in the land of aebelskiver and yet, until a few weekends ago, I had never made them. My mother thought it was a travesty that Lucie and Ella both love aebelskiver but I didn't own a pan. So during a weekend visit Nanna bought me this simple small cast iron version at a local shop for around $13.

"What is an aebleskiver?!" you ask. Well, it's a Danish pancake that is in the shape of a ball. Around these parts, it is served topped with homemade raspberry jam and powdered sugar. It makes a tasty treat for breakfast. My girls LOVE them. Can you tell?

Ella really enjoyed helping me make the batter AND wear her new apron for the first time. Oh, and she enjoyed eating the aebleskiver...and boy did she eat a lot of them!

So, to make aebleskiver, you MUST have one of these pans. You can find them pretty easily on the internet -- of course, Amazon carries them. But, Aebleskiver.com is a good resource too -- you can buy pans, aebleskiver mix, raspberry jam AND even download a video on how to make them.

There are various recipes for aebleskiver out there -- click here for a few different ones. However, this is the one that I used and it was pretty good. Unfortunately, I didn't have buttermilk on hand so I had to improvise -- half plain yogurt and half milk with a tablespoon of lemon juice. Next time, I'd like to try it with the buttermilk though. I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com, but it's also listed as a Betty Crocker recipe on aebleskiver.com

Aebleskiver

2 eggs, separated

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 Tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 Tablespoons butter, melted

2 cups buttermilk

1. In a mixing bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until they can hold a stiff peak. Set aside.
2. In another bowl, mix together the dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda and salt.
3. Add in the wet ingredients -- buttermilk, egg yolks and butter. Beat until smooth.
4. Fold in the egg whites.
5. In a seasoned and heated cast-iron aebleskiver pan, put a little butter into each cup until it is melted. Then, put about 2 Tablespoons of batter into each cup. As soon as they get bubbly around the edge, turn them quickly with a knitting needle, wooden skewer or fork.
6. Continue cooking, turning the ball to keep it from burning. You shouldn't need to add more butter to the pan when you cook the next batch, but you can if the aebleskiver are sticking.

Serve aebleskiver with your choice of topping. Since it is essentially a round pancake, maple syrup will work. However, a dusting of powdered sugar and raspberry jam are traditional.

For more breakfast recipes, stop by LifeAsMom for Ultimate Recipe Swap.