Real Danish Æbleskiver -- by popular demand!

A couple days ago I posted this Instagram picture of my æbleskiver, sizzling away in their cast iron skillet.  Oh, the deliciousness!  Æbleskiver are a traditional Danish Christmas treat, something a little bit like a pancake ball, but ever so much better tasting.  They are served with all kinds of dipping sides -- butter and a sugar/cinnamon mix, jam and powdered sugar, fruit or maple syrup, nutella, etc.  Several people asked for the recipe, so I thought I'd post it here to make it easy to find and use.  I got this recipe while serving as a missionary in Denmark about 13 years ago, and it makes the most moist and fluffy little balls of goodness you could imagine.

Real Danish Æbleskiver
4 eggs, separated
1 T sugar
2 c. sifted flour
1/2 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
1/2 c. melted shortening
2 c. milk

Beat egg yolks and add sugar.  Sift dry ingredients together and add to egg yolk mixture alternately with shortening and milk.  Fold this mixture into stiffly beaten egg whites.  Bake in æbleskiver pan (preheat pan over medium heat -- a good cast iron skillet generally doesn't need to be greased because there's already a lot of oil in the batter, but if you find them a little sticky you can baste the cups with butter).  Fill cups 3/4 full.  Allow to bake until bubbles form around edges.  Then flip each bubbling æbleskive over and finish baking.  Many Danes use a crochet hook to flip them.  Other favorite implements are metal skewers -- I just use a fork. :)

So if YOU have an æbleskiver pan just gathering dust because you don't really know what to do with it, try this out!  If you don't have one yet, here is a good one on Amazon.

PS - some recipes call for various fillings inside the æbleskive itself.  I'm sure that's lovely too, but I never had them that way in Denmark.  If you want to take up æbleskive-making, I'd start out with a recipe like this and get it figured out before moving on to something more complicated.

Let me know if you have any questions!