Twenty three years ago, I served Aebleskivers for the first time and thirteen years ago, they became our family tradition for Christmas morning.
Aebleskivers are a danish "pancake" made in a cast iron skillet. We love them so much and because of the size of our family we use two on Christmas mornings.
I'd say one of the joys of Christmas is definitely making Aebleskivers. This is what you'll need: flour, eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, butter, one big honkin' jar of apple butter and a pint or so sour cream.
Let's get started making these awesome little balls!
To begin, separate 4 eggs - whites in one medium sized bowl and yolks in another. Beat the egg whites until they are stiff but not dry. Set them aside.
Combine 2 of the egg yolks together - discard 2 yolks or find some other creative use for them. Measure out 2 cups buttermilk and . . .
add your two egg yolks to the buttermilk, stir gently and see what kind of fun swirls you can make from the colors. When you're done playing add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.
Set this aside and melt 1/4 cup of butter - on a low heat. After it cools a bit . . .
Pour it slowly into your buttermilk & egg yolk mixture - and of course stir it around. Now it's time for ...TA DA...the dry ingredients . . .
In a large bowl . . . dump . . .2 cups of unbleached all purpose flour and add 2 tablespoons of sugar, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.
Use a whisk to stir it together.
Add your buttermilk, egg yolk and melted butter mixture to your big bowl filled with your dry ingredients. Whisk this around - mixing it somewhat well - lumps are OK though.
Remember that little bowl of stiff egg whites?
Fold them into your batter mixing it well.
Now that your Aebleskiver batter is mixed and ready, it's time to heat up your iron Aebleskivers pans to a medium heat. Next, and place a bit of butter into each indentation in your Aebleskiver pan. My favorite is the one with the wooden handle. As the butter is starting to bubble, you'll want a plate, and a couple extra spoons a long with a fork. These are your "tools" to turn - or rotate the little pancake balls. Take the lid off your big jar of apple butter and have a teaspoon ready to use. You'll add a "dollop" of apple butter for each little pancake.
When the butter is just starting to bubble, add just less than a 1/4 cup of the batter into each bubbling buttered indentation. You basically want each round to be about 3/4 of the way full. Then add a dollop of apple butter. When the batter starts to get bubbly around th edges, turn each round upside down with a spoon or two forks. This is the tricky part and takes some practice, but oh, it's so worth it. You just want the ball to be turned over once to cook both sides. Continue cooking for about 1 minute. You'll know it's done because the ball will come away from the sides of your pan.
In case you're thoroughly confused - for your viewing pleasure here's my how to video clip. Let me know what you think.
Making Aebleskivers from lylah ledner on Vimeo.
Because these are so yummy, you'll have to tell the little ones to wait.
Buy your Aebleskiver pan here.
Ingredients
4 eggs, separated
2 cups low-fat buttermilk
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup unsalted butter melted
Powdered sugar
big Jar of Apple Butter
sour cream for the table
Instructions:
Pour about 3/4 teaspoon butter into each round of an Aeblekiver pan and heat over medium-high heat on top of stove. Add a heaping tablespoon of the batter, or enough to fill each round about three-quarters full. Take a good sized tea spoon of the apple butter and put it in the batter.
When bubbly around the edges, turn each round upside down with a spoon or two forks. This is the tricky part - to try to get the ball turned over. It takes practice.
Continue cooking, turning until done, about 2 minutes. You’ll know it’s just about done because the ball will come away from the sides of the pan. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve with sour cream and more apple butter.
I’ll warn you—it’s a bit messy to make, but absolutely worth it. We genernally serve eggs and bacon, fresh orange juice.
