A
sort light spherically shaped doughnut traditionally made with beer, the yeast
of which acted as a leavening agent but is, in modern recipes, replaced with
baking powder. Both methods produce a light fluffy 'doughnut'-like treat,
though they are not always ball-shaped. Some cooks use waffle or double mold to
produce perfect round æbleskive. Far more widespread though is the use of a
special indented pan which allows for 6 or more æbleskive to be fried one side
at a time. The deft and practiced cook can produce fine rounded and puffy
cakes with the use of a fork prong or tooth pick to turned over the balls of
dough manually. (Without practice, the final shape is consequently less
perfectly round and the result a little less fluffy.) Part of the name,
'skive', is literally translated to 'slice' and æble,' to 'apple.'
Traditionally æbleskiver would be made with a piece of finely sliced raw
apple as filling for the æbleskiv, though berries or cheese may substitute, as
well as savory fillings, or simply without filling at all. Danes
eat them throughout December as a Christmas tradition, served with both confectioner's sugar and jam (strawberry or black currant.)
Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 ¾ cups buttermilk
5 tbsps. butter, melted
3 eggs separated
2 tbsps. sugar
Instructions:
Heat the Aebleskiver pan over medium heat and melt the butter and set aside to cool
Whisk egg whites until stiff and set aside. Then quickly mix egg yolks, baking soda, salt, sugar, and vanilla in a nother bowl.
Gradually add buttermilk to the yolk mixture, then add the melted butter. Finally, gently fold in stiff egg whites.
In the heated pan, fill each indentation ¾ full with batter. When the edges of each sphere of batter begin to firm, turn each aebleskiver 90 degrees. The batter will sink in the middle and require replenishing with another small spoonful of fresh batter. At this point, in addition to adding a little more batter for each aebleskiver, you may add fillings in small amounts. Let the edges of the batter firm again and then, turn each aebleskiver another 90 degrees. Keep turning each aebleskiver until evenly light brown crust has form all around.
