Aebleskivers/Ebelskivers

What is an Ebelskiver? It is a basically a little round Danish pancake. I looked up the history, but what I found was vague; one said that it started with Vikings who made pancakes on top of their pock marked shields...who knows!

Dan's great aunt told us about them at our rehearsal dinner; a treat she remembered from her childhood. While perusing Williams-Sonoma later that year I found this and decided to give it a whirl.

If you have kids, I think that these would be a huge hit! They are great little popable breakfast fun.

We generally like them plain (remember, Dan is a traditionalist!) and I'll just pile them up on a plate and serve with a side of warm maple syrup for dunking; however, Williams-Sonoma has a ton of creative recipes for Ebelskivers on their site if you are feeling especially adventurous!


Aebleskivers/Ebelskivers
Adapted from Karen Blixen's site (you can find her recipe here.)

Ingredients:
--4 eggs (separated)
--2 Tblsps. granulated sugar
--1/2 tsp. salt
--6 Tbsps. butter (melted and slightly cooled); 2 for use in batter and 4 for the pan
--2 cups buttermilk
--1 tsp. baking soda
--1 tsp. baking powder
--2 cups AP flour
--1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder and sugar together in a large bowl, set aside.

2. Separate the eggs. Add salt and vanilla to egg yolks. Whip the egg whites until stiff.

3. Add buttermilk and egg yolk mixture to dry mixture; mix until just combined (still lumpy); Slowly add the 2 Tblsps. of melted butter.

4. Fold in about a 1/3 of the egg whites (this is your sacrifical whites that will lighten the batter and allow you to keep the fluff of the other 2/3rds). Fold in the remaining 2/3rds of the whites.

5. Add about a half tsp. of butter to each well of the pan. Ladle in batter, filling each well about 3/4th of the way full.

6. Turn aebleskivers when you start to see air bubbles in the middle of the well. I use a pair I use chopsticks for this task but Williams-Sonoma sells these turners too. (Mom these would make a good stocking stuffer for me :P)

7. Serve with warm maple syrup.

8. Enjoy