breakfast blogger

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of eating aebleskiver, you know what I’m talking about when I say how incredibly delicious they are, and how versatile they can be.

First off “aebleskiver” is Danish for “apple slices”. There is a lot of speculation as to whether or not the first aebleskiver actually had pieces of apple in it. Personally, I think the name probably derives from the Danish delicacy’s resemblance to the apple itself… But I’m not Danish, and I definately am no expert on the matter.

I am, however, a big fan of the aebleskiver.

What are they?

A long story short would describe them as Pancake balls. Spherical Pancakes.

The recipe I use to make my aebleskiver I got from one of my childhood friend’s parents. They’re of Danish origin, so I like to pretend this recipe came over with them when they came to America.

I’ve also looked up plenty of recipes to compare it to, and its basically the same recipe all around. There are plenty of deviations, the most popular one being scrapping the entire “from scratch” batter and using plain old Krusteaz pancake mix, only using less water, adding a few tablespoons of sugar, and calling it good.

Personally, I enjoy a good homemade batch of any sort of breakfast food, so this morning I got down to business and created a beautiful batch of aebleskiver using this recipe-

-Ingredients-

2 egg whites
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter, melted
2 cups buttermilk

You will also need-

-Either liquid canola oil or an aerosol spray canola oil- like Pam
-A monks pan (a specialized aebleskiver pan) THIS IS REQUIRED. See here for more info.
-wooden skewer or knitting needle

Directions

Beat the egg whites stiff. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, sugar, melted butter and buttermilk and beat until smooth. Gently fold in the egg whites last.

Spray the bottom of each æbleskiver pan cup with a small amount of oil and heat until it sizzles. Fill each of the pan cups about half full with the batter. As soon as they get bubbly around the edge, turn them quickly by poking the wooden skewer into the edge of the batter and turning it up, allowing the uncooked batter to flow down into the cup. Alternatively, you can turn them halfway first, so that the baked crusts protruding from the pan will look like the Sydney Opera House. And after a while you turn them the remaining 90 degrees. This will give them a perfect ball-shape (this is how I do it) Continue cooking, turning the ball to keep it from burning. Spray each pan cup with oil before refilling with the batter.

It sounds difficult. The first couple tries it WILL be difficult, but sooner than later you will be an aebleskiver pro. Once you’ve gotten the hang of it, invite all your friends over, whip up a batch and watch the ooh’s and ahh’s come out as you present them with pancakes straight out of an episode of the Jetsons.

Traditionally, they’re served with a generous sprinkling of powdered sugar and some preserves-

I like mine with Strawberry jam, but Raspberry is just as good.

Just break the ball in half-

And spread some jam around in there-

Pop it in your mouth, and enjoy!

They can also be eaten the same way as you would pancakes, and they’re just as tasty, only a little sweeter.

The other cool thing about Aebleskiver, besides being a totally awesome way to impress your friends (the novelty of spherical pancakes NEVER wears off, trust me) is that they’re portable, and they keep really well as leftovers. Keep them in the fridge and just put them in the micro to reheat them for a few seconds and enjoy them up to a week later.

So go out and get yourself a monks pan and give it a try.
Seriously. It’s so worth it.

-Muffin

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 17th, 2007 at 12:39 am and is filed under Breakfasts, Muffin's Recipes, Muffin's Breakfasts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.