Danish Aebleskiver Pancakes

Danish Aebleskiver Pancakes are round in shape and stuffed with your favorite fillings. Try them for breakfast or as a snack.

what are aebleskiver?

If you find pancakes boring, then it might be time to give aebleskiver a try. Aebleskiver are round, Danish filled pancakes, and they’re about to bring some excitement to your breakfast game. Think of them as pancakes crossed with donut holes with the added lightness of popovers. In other words, they’re a bit different from the ordinary, and that’s good enough for me.

Danish Aebleskiver pancakes are about the size of golf balls, and you can fill them with just about anything. You can start with your favorite jams and jellies (or marmalade) by adding a spoonful to each center. But don’t stop there. Try chopped apples and cinnamon or mashed bananas and toasted pecans. Dark chocolate and nut butter would make a delicious snack pancake. I don’t see why savory fillings wouldn’t work, either. Go crazy and try something new.

What I like about aebleskiver is that you don’t have to commit to just one filling. Each pancake ball can have its own, which is perfect if you’re cooking for a group. A big plate of aebleskiver with various fillings would work well as a part of your next brunch menu.

The Danes eat aebleskiver more as a snack or dessert than a breakfast, often enjoying them at family gatherings around Christmas or New Year’s. In Denmark, winter street vendors sell them lightly coated with powdered sugar, and they're enjoyed with a warm mug of glogg, a Scandinavian mulled wine. Aebleskiver are so prevalent there that you can find them frozen in the grocery store. Though, that sounds like the equivalent to buying frozen pancakes. There’s no need.

what does aebleskiver mean?

The name aebleskiver, when translated, means “apple slices” and refers to the traditional apple filling. From what I can tell, apple filling doesn’t seem to be as common in Denmark today. They actually don't always fill them and instead serve a jam or sauce on the side for dipping. I prefer the idea of fillings.

The legend is that aebleskiver were created by Vikings while out at sea. They wanted pancakes, yet lacked a pan to make them in. So they used their dented armor instead. When they flipped the pancakes in the rounded dents, they created the spherical pancake shapes now known as aebleskiver.

how do you make round pancakes?

Having never cooked in armor, I’m going to go ahead and assume that it’s easier if you get yourself an aebleskiver pan. That’s right; there are special pans with round indentations just for making aebleskiver. You can find one for under $30 from a kitchen supply store, though I’ve heard of people finding them at thrift stores for just a few dollars. Most quality pans are cast iron, and as is the case with any cast iron pan, it can last you a lifetime if you take care of it. Keep an eye out for one. It’s a worthy investment. And here are a few other uses for the pan.

To make Danish aebleskiver pancakes, you start with a simple pancake batter. It’s helpful to keep the batter on the thin side so that it is easy to pour, and it easily coats the rounded sides of the pan’s indentations. My recipe below should be plenty thin, but if you were to use a mix or your own preferred pancake batter recipe, just keep in mind that you may need to thin it out with some milk.

how do you flip aebleskiver?

The one small tricky aspect of making aebleskiver is flipping them. But a bamboo chopstick, or if you have one, a clean knitting needle, is all you need for easy flipping. After you let the pancake cook for a couple of minutes and you’ve added your filling, you can use the skewer or needle to sneak around the sides. You’ll be surprised how the aebleskiver will want to rotate around in the pan and soon realize it doesn’t take much to get the hang of flipping. Trust me. You can do it.  It might take you a few tries before you get it right, and that’s fine. Plus, the mistakes give you something to snack on while you wait.

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