Hotty and I got an aebleskiver pan for our wedding, and I've never really thought to use it. But a few weeks ago we picked up some pancake mix at the store, and today I thought, dang. I should give it a whirl.
Turns out it's pretty darn easy. On a scale from "trained monkeys (without the training) could make it" to "people who have gone to school for ten years to learn to make it still ruin it every time" it lands at a very solid "it's insanely simple, if you're not lazy." I looked online for a couple of recipes, and none of them really called for pancake mix. This made me sad, for I had been told it was possible. So I persevered and found a way to make it delicious. :D
For your pleasure:
Before you do anything, put the aebleskiver pan on the stove and turn the burner onto medium heat. This way you don't have to concern yourself with waiting for the pan to heat up later. Make up the pancake mix according to the directions, except leave out the egg(s). The mix I used called for one cup mix, half a cup milk, one tablespoon oil (if you're imagining me reading this aloud, you might want to pronounce "oil" southern-style; it sounds kind of like "ol'" as in "good ol' boys") and one egg. Instead of putting the egg(s) in, take one or two more than you need and beat the whites with a hand mixer until it looks delicious and fluffy like marshmallows and it holds its shape when you take out the beaters (you know, until peaks form). I used two egg whites. *tip: It helps if you have an egg separator, or if you just happen to find separating whites from yolks easy. Like I do.* Then you fold the whites into the pancake batter, to make it nice and fluffy. Now is the fun part. Spray each cup with cooking spray, then put a little batter in the cup. Spoon a little jam or jelly (or whatever; there are lots of possibilities) onto the batter, then put a little more on top. If you go one cup at a time, by the time you're done with the last cup, the first aebleskiver should be ready to flip. You flip them using something long and skinny, preferably pointy. I used a metal chopstick, and others have used metal kebab skewers or toothpicks. You cook it a minute to a minute and a half on each side. Then you take them out and enjoy.
I found it was easier when: 1) the jam didn't touch the pan 2) I didn't put in too much batter; too much made it overflow and look silly when I tried to flip it.
The jam I used is a kind Hotty and I were given for Christmas; we went over to our friends' house on New Years and forgot to take it home. We finally got it back when we went back over the other day, so today I decided to use it. It's called Anne Made: Golden Trio, and it's AMAZING.
The only drawback I see to these delicious pastry-like breakfast confections is that they're a little time-consuming to make and take practically no time to eat. Only a drawback if you're trying to feed a lot of people with them, I suppose.
