One of the most popular Danish Christmas treats is Æbleskiver. The name literally means “apple slices” in Danish as they were originally filled with small pieces of apple or applesauce. At some point, the filling disappeared and we got the æbleskive, we know today.
Makes about 20
Prep: 30 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes
Recipe
– 50 g / 1.75 oz butter, melted
– 250 g / 8.8 oz flour
– 2 tsp baking soda
– 2½ tsp ground cardamom
– 2 tbsp sugar
– ½ tsp salt
– ½ lemon, zest (optional)
– 2 eggs
– 4 dl / 1.7 cups buttermilk
– Butter for frying
Method
– Melt butter and set aside.
– Mix flour, baking soda, cardamom, sugar, salt and grated lemon zest (approx. 1 tbsp) in a bowl.
– Divide the eggs into yolks and whites. Add the yolks to the dry ingredients, along with the buttermilk and melted butter. Mix well until combined.
– Whip the egg whites until stiff and fold into the dough. Fold in the egg whites carefully to ensure a fluffy dough.
– Refrigerate the dough for 20 minutes.
– As needed, transfer the dough to a jug or piping bag so you can easily add dough to the æbleskiver pan. You can also ladle the dough into the pan.
– Heat the æbleskiver pan over medium heat and add a little butter in each dimple. Fill each dimple three-quarters of the way up with dough.
– When a crust has formed, add a little more dough to each dimple as needed and turn upside down using a fork or meat skewers. Turn a few times while cooking to ensure a nice round shape. The total cooking time is about five minutes.
– Keep warm under a tea towel or at 50°C / 120°F in the oven.
– Serve warm æbleskiver with a dusting of icing sugar and your favourite jam.
Did you know
The frying of the æbleskiver is done in a special æbleskive frying pan with seven holes, traditionally made out of cast iron. In Denmark, these pans can be bought everywhere, but outside of Denmark, they may be hard to find. Otherwise, a puff dumpling pan or a Japanese takoyaki pan will also work.
Source: denmark.dk