I remember when my parents, then my sister, got Aebleskiver pans and we all had a great conversation about how delicious and difficult they were to make. I suppose that conversation must have been 10 + years ago.
Then, on a trip to Solvang, CA, a quaint Danish town in Southern California, we had the authentic experience: Smörgåsbord (yes, I know that Swedish) with all of the Scandinavian delights including herring and the elusive aebleskivers with lingon berries. Well, that was Heaven!
Several years afterward, I started noticing that Williams-Sonoma was offering their version of the Aebleskiver Pan. Then other places had their knock-offs. You know the AEBLESKIVER has finally arrived when you can get an Aebleskiver Pan from Target.
Well, that was it! When asked what I wanted for Christmas, I told my Dad, "I want an Aebleskiver Pan... Damn it!" And that's just what I got. That same Christmas Day, I seasoned my new cast iron Aebleskiver pan and started to dream of Aebleskivers.
To say there was an intimidation factor would be to grossly understate my feelings. In fact, I spent the two weeks following Christmas in a constant state of recollection - "They're so hard to turn." my mother had said those many years earlier. "They're easy to break." said my sister back then. "They're damn good!" said my father who grew up in a Scandinavian area of Northwest Wisconsin.
These recollections were torture for me, and I don't know why. Finally, I did remember a conversation I once had with one of my cousins. She told me that she would always watch her grandmother (my great-aunt) make them... and the key was to use the thinnest skewer you can find. Armed with this secret knowledge, I grew the courage to dive in.
Set on making a nice brunch, I searched the web for the perfect recipe which was, due to my rising late that morning, the least difficult recipe available.
OK. So the first ones were less than perfect as I deflated them with my aggressive turning style. I would add that though the pan was previously seasoned, there is nothing like the magic of COOKING to properly season a cast iron pan. This greatly helped the appearance of the second batch which turned a bit easier than the first. By the third batch, they were Spectacular! Then, as is often the case, the final batch fell short of the beauty I had earlier attained. I summise that the pan was by then too hot.
So the keys to Aebleskivers are these: don't make these if you're in a hurry because they are a bit time consuming; figure out quickly how much batter is enough-too much batter defeats the goal of a spherical shape; figure out quickly the temperature; learn delicacy with a sharp, thin skewer and never poke the center; remember these are related to pancakes and thus you must wait for the majority of bubbles to pop before turning. If you do this last step and the aebleskivers are too dark or burned, then the heat is too high.
In the end, they were as delicious as anything I've ever eaten. Light as air yet grounded when served with lingon berries. Oh, how it was worth the wait! Oh, how worth it to make these once a year or every other weekend! Oh, how I adore Aebleskivers!
And just so you know, I used the word Aebleskiver as much as I possibly could! THAT'S how much I love Aebleskivers!
