The wife’s family collects other people’s traditions. They’re not German, but they hide a pickle ornament in their Christmas tree and make the kids look for it on Christmas morning. And they’re not Danish, but they always make ebelskivers for breakfast on the morning after Christmas. The wife has carried on these adopted traditions, but we’re pretty flexible about when we make the ebelskivers. Anytime between Christmas and New Years works for us.
Judging by the ubiquity of ebelskiver pans these days, a lot of people seem to jumping on the bandwagon. The wife has an well-sesoned cast iron pan that her mother handed down. The recipe she uses is pretty simple. If you want more recipes, check out this cookbook.
Ebelskivers
- 3 eggs
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 cups buttermilk
Ebelskivers are basically little oblong pancakes. They can be stuffed with anything, usually jellies, but I like them plain. The trick to making them right is setting the heat to medium-low and giving the pan ample time to heat up.
Separate the eggs, placing the whites in a small bowl and yolks in a medium bowl. With an electric mixer at high speed, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and set aside. Then with the electric mixer at medium speed, beat the egg yolks until slightly thickened. Gradually add the sugar and salt, beating until it’s all light and fluffy. Sift together the remaining dry ingredients. At medium speed, beat them into the egg yolk mixture, alternating with buttermilk until thoroughly mixed. With a rubber spatula, gently fold the egg whites into the ebelskiver batter until it’s well combined. Then you spray the pan with PAM and fill the impressions up 2/3 of the way with batter.
After two or three minutes, you should be able to rock the batter back and forth with a chopstick. That’s when you know it’s time to flip them. If you’re filling them with preservatives, herbs, cheese, etc, this is when you do it. Then you just top it with a little more batter. If you’re leaving them plain, just flip them over. The wife has spent years perfecting her flipping motion with chopsticks, and she’s gotten really good at it.
Then you let it cook for a few more minutes and pop the finished ebelskivers onto a pan. Keep them in a warm oven until the entire batch of batter is cooked. Most people eat them with powdered sugar on top. The wife got the interiors of these ebelskivers light and fluffy.
If you do it right, the filling will remain in the middle and not bubble out.
This recipe will make about 28. These were the best she’s ever made. None of them burned at all. Sadly, I prefer the burnt ones. Without butter or sugar. I guess I have pretty bland taste.
