Aebleskiver

Recipe by: Happy Hat Uploaded by Drimble Wedge

As some of you know, I recently got myself an old Æbleskive iron. Cast iron pan, originating with wifes great grand mother - so it is from pre 1900 (see if your Jamie Oliver tefal piece of crap will last more than 100 years - I fucking dare you!).

It's made to use on a wood stove, or directly on fire. The ring at the top is both for handling and for hanging apparently..

All of this might be bullshit, but since it is my wife's grandmother (96 - passed away a week ago) who regaled us with tales of there being æbleskiver after churning, but mostly during winter, and this being the iron used for it.

You might have noticed I keep referring to it as an iron, and not a pan, that is because for some reason these babies are called that in Danish.

The bottom of the iron shows that it was not meant for a flat surface, no more than three of the cups touches at any one point in time either - luckily the power of science and cast iron ensures that I get an even heat distribution.

Let's make æbleskiver

Æbleskiver is already plural, do not add an s on the end of that unless you want to sound ignorant..

For this you need:

• 180 grams of butter
• 500g AP flour
• 500g buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 6 eggs
• 50 grams of yeast (or the equivalent in dry yeast)
• grated lemon
• 1 teaspoon cardamom
• 1 apple
• butter for baking them in
• jam and lemon curd for serving (well - I wanted to use lemon curd, traditionally it's just jam)

Melt the butter in a small saucepan, keep a good eye on it, you don't want it to brown.

Crack the eggs, and remove all pieces of shell subsequently.

Take the sugar, and add the yeast, mash it up a little.

Then wash hands, because you're kinda anal about having non-sticky fingers.. Wash them thoroughly, and test out different functions of the faucet. But don't dry them, why should you dry them?

Measure out the buttermilk, and add it to the butter, test to see if it is lukewarm (I tested first).

And then taste to see what it tastes like, explain that it is a good thing, and that butter is good for you - otherwise you won't get fat and healthy.

Add it, the cardamom and the flour to the eggs, and start grating lemon peel.

Add the now melted yeast to the mix, and start mixing it up...

Then leave it for about half an hour while you eat dinner...

So how long was half an hour again?

Get out the iron, and cut up the apple in pieces, ready for stuffing the æbleskiver.

Get your tools ready for turning them (traditionally a knitting needle, but as we don't knit, we use bamboo skewers).

Fill up the holes in the iron with dough, and stuff a piece of apple in there, turn them when they're ready.

Bake a whole mountain of them (this makes about 30 in my iron, about 40 in a standard size iron).

Whatcha doing pumpkin?

Nothin'!!

Serve them with jam and Caster Sugar.

Clean up the aftermath!

Cinnamon Variation by Archenteron

I remember someone making these for an earlier NICSA, after which I found an aluminum/nonstick pan by sheer happenstance at a knick-knack store and made my own. I've got a sweet tooth, so I use a cinnamon-bun filling instead.

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature, cut up into tiny cubes

Mix the dry ingredients together, then mash in the butter until it's all combined. Stick a little blob of cinnasugar into the æbleskiver batter and cover with a little more batter.