Ebelskivers

We love ebelskivers! Ebelskivers, are danish pastries, sort of like little rounded pancakes that you can leave plain or stuffed with a little bit of jam, fruit, custard, pudding, or whatever your little heart desires. We like to make them with a little bit of apple butter tucked inside and a heavy-handed sprinkling of powdered sugar to mirror the great snowy outdoors. You can find ebelskiver pans at Williams-Sonoma or a cheaper "pancake puff" version at stores like Target. I found my cast-iron pan at the local goodwill for a mere $10.



They are a little tricky to turn over, but once you get the hang of manuevering the two skewers it is kind of fun. What also helps is to brush the wells with some butter and to have a few extra helping hands. Miss Lana Lou, my "sweet" assistant, is in charge of sifting powdered sugar over the tops of the ebelskivers. We can't stop saying ebelskiver (pronounced like "able-skeever") whenever we make them. We also can't ever stop ourselves from eating them off the plates, still warm and yummy.


We used this recipe from the Williams-Sonoma site. Keep in mind we swapped the blueberries for apple butter, poured in a shot of vanilla extract, and used half wheat flour and half white flour):

Ebelskiver Recipe

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 Tbs. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs, separated
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 pint fresh blueberries or filling of choice
(nutella, jam...the possibilites are mind numbing!)
Confectioners' sugar for dusting
Maple syrup for serving

Directions:

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, granulated sugar and salt. In a small bowl, lightly whisk together the egg yolks and buttermilk. Whisk the yolk mixture into the flour mixture until well combined; the batter will be lumpy. In another bowl, using an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on high speed until stiff but not dry peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the whites into the batter in two additions. Put 1/2 tsp. butter in each well of a filled-pancake pan. Place over medium heat and heat until the butter begins to bubble. Pour 1 Tbs. batter into each well and cook until the bottoms are golden brown and crispy, 3 to 5 minutes. Put 5 or 6 blueberries in the center of each pancake (or 1 tsp. filling) and top with 1 Tbs. batter. Using 2 wooden skewers, flip the pancakes over and cook until golden and crispy, about 3 minutes more. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter and blueberries. Dust the pancakes with confectioners' sugar and serve warm with maple syrup. Makes about 40.

Posted by Dawn