The Ebelskiver Pan, the Cookware You Didn't Know You Needed
I first discovered (and blogged about) the ebelskiver pan last fall. Danish filled pancakes, oh my! But, with a small kitchen and too many single-use kitchen products already, I held back on buying one, convincing myself I could live without it. And let me tell you, I could, but that would be such a sad, sad life.
After coming across a few recipes recently, I decided to throw caution to the wind and plunk down $25 for a pan (really not that much, right?). Besides, breakfast has become a big event in our house, now that my one-year-old has got us on a schedule. Plus, he already gobbles down three or four blueberry pancakes in a sitting, so I was sure the ebelskiver would be a hit.
Now, let me tell you, I have only made ebelskiver once, but they are already an obsession in my house. After one bite, my husband maniacally declared: "You MUST make these EVERY DAY." My son had no problem downing four of them. My friend Chris, who didn't even get to try them, declared that I should quit my job and open a shop selling nothing but ebelskiver: "There would be a line around the block!"
My obsession? The infinite possibilities of this "single-use" pan. Sweet or savory? Fruit or chocolate? Plain or with powdered sugar? Pie fillings? International cheeses? Nutella?! For my first round I made a basic pancake batter and baked in a banana-vanilla yogurt filling. Amazingly delicious! With the last bit of batter, I mixed in some cinnamon and blueberries. They came out like little muffin bites!
The nitty gritty on this pan: You don't need any special recipes--you can just make pancake batter (from scratch or a mix) and fill them with fruit or jam, or whatever you have around. You do need butter, and I recommend precutting a bunch of tiny cubes of cold butter, and putting one cube in each indentation for each round. For one of my rounds, I decided to forgo the butter--after all, I'd already used butter, and the pan is nonstick. And while the pan did release the ebelskiver, they stuck just enough to make them a bit touchy to try to turn over. And really, all that butter is good for the soul, right? For turning, I recommend using chopsticks, one in each hand. Don't worry if your turning technique is a little sloppy--they seem to cook up just perfect anyway!
Well, I could go on and on about these fantastic little pancake puffs, but, I will leave you to ponder this delicious ("almost edible!") photo.
--KitchenMaus
anita on June 24, 2008 at 08:55 AM
it's not quite a single-use pan. you can use it to make a thai sweet-snack called kanom krok. (That's actually what we use ours for, 99% of the time.)
Story, pictures, and recipe link here: http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/features/vendkk.html
Fred on June 24, 2008 at 12:07 PM
Aebleskiver = Danish for apple slices.
For me this is Christmas snack, and you eat them with jam or powdered sugar.
Breakfast food it is not, but suit yourself, the Danish combined committee on food will be meeting, and you can expect stern letters of protestation.
Half Canadian on June 24, 2008 at 12:16 PM
You can use toothpicks to turn them (that's what I use).
You can also coat the wells using oil and a brush, if you want to avoid cholesterol.
Yes, they are a big hit in my home as well.
william on June 24, 2008 at 12:17 PM
I saw those "Pancake Puffs" pans on TV for $19.99!
Huichieh on June 24, 2008 at 12:23 PM
Hmm... these might be suitable for Takoyaki as well. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takoyaki
Gajim on June 24, 2008 at 12:48 PM
Ebelskivers have been a Christmas and New Year's treat around our home since I met my wife 32 years ago, and as far back in her family history as we know about (15 generations). They are worth the effort. Look to the net for actual ebelskiver batter recipes. We use a pan of melted butter on the side and spoon in a half teaspoon each for each batch. And the 'treats' don't have to go on the inside. Serve them 'plain' with jellies, syrups, sugars, powers, applesauce, etc. on the side. Excellent stuff.
A Bouts on June 24, 2008 at 01:18 PM
I wonder how it would cook eggs? They would an interesting to serve them all round and bulbous looking.
Amelia on June 24, 2008 at 01:37 PM
Those sound so good! Meals have become a bigger event in our house too, now that our son eats mostly "real" food instead of baby food. My almost-2-year-old is a real chow hound, and he loves the weekends when daddy makes either waffles or scrambled eggs. He would snarf up these ebelskiver!
P.S. Is it pronounced ebel-SKEE-ver or ebel-SKY-ver? Or are both guesses wrong?
Sous-chef on the Run on June 24, 2008 at 04:17 PM
This pan can also be used for a variety of Indian sweets and savories, including Ponganalu as blogged about here:
http://www.nandyala.org/mahanandi/archives/2006/03/20/ponganalu-gunta-pongadalu/
jdm on June 24, 2008 at 04:21 PM
Danish is a hard language to pronounce, but they're (as Fred spelled them above) pronounced "eh-bleh-skee-wah". The final, plural 'r' is swallowed and sounds sort of like "wah" - 'v' is pronounced like 'w'.
The 'ae' is actually a single letter 'æ' which has a short 'e' sound.
Or you could just use the name here is Scandi-Minnesota: baseball-pancakes.
Lisa on June 24, 2008 at 05:00 PM
We always pronounced it "ebbelskewer", which is probably a bastardization of how my Danish immigrant grandmother pronounced it. My mom always used a pickle fork to turn them and it worked pretty well (use one tine to grab the cooked edge and gently flip it). This post makes me nostalgic, since this was a frequent treat growing up - I might have to go buy a pan now.
Ephraim on June 24, 2008 at 06:11 PM
Mmmmm.....aebleskivers......(Homer Simpson drool).
The other single-use pan you need is a Danish waffle iron. Screw that Belgian junk. Danish sour cream waffles flavored with a pinch of powdered cardamom and served with lingonberries absolutely RULE.
Suzie on June 24, 2008 at 07:08 PM
The story of 'ableskivers' from a friend of mine who grew up eating them:
Løng ago in Scandinavia they would save some apples for the dark
of winter by coring, slicing, and drying them and then putting them
on poles like the big rye crisp cracker things. They like to put
food on poles there for some reason. This was for to use when the
apples in the root cellar were gone or bad, and this happened about
December. One morning the junsters were up for breakfast and they
wanted apple pancakes. Well there were no apples left, only the dried
slices, so someone dipped the skiver in batter and apple slices were
invented. Much later someone was trying to figure out what to do
with a fancy "monks pan" that they had gotten as a present and stuck
little pieces of apples in the batter and made round ableskiver.
Der junsters liked these o heck yea and they had to have them all
the time. Eventually the ables ran out and to keep the little
monsters happy they started making them without apples. And so when
the junsters grew up they still wanted ableskiver at Christmas. That
is why some apple slices have no apples in them. And there you have it.
rms
lorella on June 24, 2008 at 09:51 PM
I got pancake puffs for Mother's Day from my kids because we kept seeing the commercial on TV and my twin 5-year-olds said that I had to get this pan so they could make me breakfast in bed on Mother's Day. Sure enough, my husband and kids presented me with the most perfect pancake puffs that morning and we all had a breakfast that couldn't be beat!! We had a few leftover and enjoyed them the next morning as well and now that's all anyone in our family wants. We made them for my sister and nieces who were visiting this week, and they loved them as well. We use skewers to turn ours and we cut them open like a biscuit and put butter inside - YUM!!!!
Kim Schulz on June 27, 2008 at 03:16 PM
Æbleskiver is a great old tradition here in Denmark. Nowadays most people dont make their own ones but buy industy-made crappy, greasy ones instead. The good old-facioned homemade ones are simply delicious and we can easily eat 10-15 each if we are allowed :-)
Normally they are not filled when we make them in Denmark. Instead we split them open with our fingers and fill with a teaspoon full jamm and drissel with powdersugar. Yummy.
The batter is actually not just a traditional pancake batter, but usually contains other ingredients like beer or zest of an orange or cardamom powder. Most of the batter recipes use Buttermilk and Sodium to make the Aebleskiver light and fluffy.
Chris on July 05, 2008 at 07:40 PM
Chris here (the one mentioned in the post). I finally tried these little delights and they are indeed delicious. We'll definitely be buying a pan soon. Thank you KitchenMaus! (More chocolate filled ones please.)
Honolulu Mom on July 16, 2008 at 01:04 PM
My favorites are the ones with the banana in the middle, drizzled with coconut syrup, and dolloped with a bit of whipped cream. Ambrosia!
Steph on July 26, 2008 at 11:02 AM
We've been making these in my family since I was born. They're great with butter, powdered sugar, syrup, or jam. We heat up a small amount of shortening in a small pot (and I mean small, about 3" diameter) to coat the sections with, and use a squeeze bottle (similar to a ketchup squeeze bottle, but larger opening) to pour the batter into the pan. This makes it so much easier for portioning out appropriately, rather than using a ladle or spoon. As for the pan, I wanted to provide a quick tip. The cheaper pans tend to be cast iron, which I don't recommend. I'd say aluminum is the best way to go. This is for a few reasons: Cast iron does have more even heating, but it is impossible to cool down fast enough in case you get it too hot, and your breakfast will be ruined. Aluminum allows for the quicker cool-down and better heat manipulation. Hope this helps anyone looking to buy a pan. We have the same brand pan as in the amazon link. Sure it may be single-use, but it's definitely worth it. Ebelskivers have been a family favorite for years, and we make them on occasion when everyone is able to gather at mom's.
Kate on November 26, 2008 at 12:21 PM
Sounds crazy, but a knitting needle is the traditional, and best, way to turn them.
on December 29, 2008 at 11:52 AM
Nice blog, but you really ought to point out that your "delicious" photo came from Williams-Sonoma. http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/tipTechniqueView.cfm?objectid=AD0045C3-B1D1-2670-17EADDF377C5F50B to be exact.
rene portanova on January 01, 2009 at 03:05 PM
I still can;t find any recipes for a savory version of these delightful little treats. Any suggestions???
me on January 03, 2009 at 08:51 AM
There is a recipe at the williams-sonoma link that "on" left in the post above yours.
That is a recipe very close to one that I gt out of a nordic baking cookbook, and is very good.
arriba on January 28, 2009 at 11:50 AM
I will be making my first batch of these this weekend. Only 2 people and I wondered about having them as leftovers? I guess they are best when eaten fresh?
I discovered your site during my search for ideas for fillings and love it!
arriba on January 28, 2009 at 11:51 AM
I will be making my first batch of these this weekend. Only 2 people and I wondered about having them as leftovers? I guess they are best when eaten fresh?
I discovered your site during my search for ideas for fillings and love it!
arriba on January 28, 2009 at 11:51 AM
I will be making my first batch of these this weekend. Only 2 people and I wondered about having them as leftovers? I guess they are best when eaten fresh?
I discovered your site during my search for ideas for fillings and love it!