Recipe -- Aebleskivers!

I love breakfast and breakfast foods.  There are just so many yummy things you can make.  One of our very favorite breakfast foods is aebleskivers, which are Danish pancake balls.  Mr. W and I both have Danish ancestry (luckily not the same Danish ancestry, though!), and this is a cherished family recipe my awesome mother-in-law has passed down to us.  Aebleskiver means "apple slices" in Danish, but it might as well mean "little balls of Heaven."

Before we get started, here's some free advice: take your time with these.  They don't take long (unless you're trying to take photos while you cook...), but make them on a morning when you have some extra time and can afford to be patient.  If you try to hurry, they're not going to be nearly as good.  Learn from my mistakes!!

Okay, now we can start with the yumminess.  To make aebleskivers, you're going to need an aeblskiver pan.  It's a cast iron skillet with half-circle indentations.  You can find them at most kitchen specialty stores or stores that carry a variety of kitchen tools, like Bed Bath & Beyond.  I've even seen some at K-Mart and Wal-Mart labeled as "pancake puff" pans.  We bought ours at our favorite local kitchen shop.  Here is our well-loved pan:



Aebleskiver pan

You will also need:

2 cups buttermilk

(If you don't have buttermilk on hand, use regular milk with a splash of white vinegar)

2 cups flour

2 eggs

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 Tbsp sugar
4 Tbsp melted butter

(I cut the recipe in half for Mr. W and me)

Start by separating the eggs and beating the whites stiff.  Mix all other ingredients together one at a time and beat until smooth, then fold in the egg whites last.  Heat about 1 tsp of oil or melted butter in each indentation and let it get nice and hot.  Use a measuring cup to fill each indentation to the top.  You could add a small chunk of apple to each cup at this point, but I usually don't.  Cook for a minute or two on medium low.  Trust me on this.  I know you're going to want to turn up the heat, but resist the temptation.  Save yourself some heartache and cook them on medium low.  This will allow them to brown and still cook the middles.  They should start to get a little bubbly around the edges, like this:



Once they get bubbly, turn each one about a quarter turn.  My mother-in-law uses a knitting needle for this, and I use one of Mr. W's fancy Korean chopsticks.  You can also use a spoon.  I've discovered that the easiest way to turn them is to kind of skewer them through one side and then lift up (sorry, it's too difficult to take a picture of this one).  Some of the uncooked batter will run to the bottom of the cup and start cooking, which will help give the aebleskivers their nice round shape.

Continue cooking and rotating the aebleskivers until they're a gorgeous golden brown and cooked through.  Add more oil/butter to each cup and heat before starting a new batch.

Serve with powdered sugar or jam and prepare to have your life (or at least your breakfast menu)

changed forever. :)