Aebleskiver
(Danish pancake balls)

Adapted by Shirley Mah Kooyman
The aebleskiver is traditionally served during Christmas time to be consumed with mulled wine. They were originally slices of apple coated with batter and fried. Nowadays you can encounter these special treats offered outside of the Christmas holiday. These Danish pancake balls are similar in appearance to the Dutch poffertjes, which are called Dutch mini-pancakes. In Norway they are known as ‘munker’, in Sweden they are called ‘Danska munkar’. These pancake balls are fried in a special aebleskiver pan. Nordic Ware, a company in Minnesota, makes and sells these unique pans. Traditional recipes will call for using a knitting needle to turn the balls in the pan. I had to chuckle when I read that, since it was common for Scandinavian households to have knitters in the home. If you don’t have a knitting needle, a wooden skewer works just as well.
I was first introduced to this food item when I was 13 years old while visiting family friends in Pennsylvania. Their neighbor’s wife was Danish and she made them with apple slices. This is my adaptaion of an original recipe that was published Nov. 17, 2019 by Kim Nielsen in NordicFoodLiving.com

8 ingredients

3 eggs (separated egg yolk from whites – put in 2 bowls)
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 ¾ cups and 4 teaspoons flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ¾ cup buttermilk
7 1/3 Tablespoons butter, melted, cooled

Making the batter

1. In a medium bowl, beat egg whites with sugar until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, mix egg yolks, flour, baking soda, salt and vanilla extract. Gradually add buttermilk while still mixing until batter is blended. A hand mixer is helpful.
3. Slowly add the cooled butter to the buttermilk mixture. Mix well.
4. With a rubber spatula, slowly fold in the beaten egg whites. Do not mix the batter too vigorously.

Cooking the aebleskiver

5. You will need a special aebleskiver pan to fry the pancake balls.
6. Butter the pan depressions (wells) generously. On the stove top, heat up the pan.
7. When the butter sizzles, drop the batter into the wells and fill almost to the top. When the edges firm up, take a knitting needle or bamboo skewer and turn the balls to a complete 180 degrees to form a ball. You need to do this quickly or the balls will not form.
8. Keep turning until the balls are light brown. Remove aebleskiver from the pan and let cool on a plate. Just before serving, dust the tops with powdered sugar.
9. This batter makes 31 aebleskiver.

Note: you can freeze the aebleskiver if they have not been dusted with powdered sugar.