Tactile:  Rayne Today, snow tonight, and Aebelskivers tomorrow morning…

 

Been on the run all day, not a lot of time to spend in the Slogosphere.

 

Before running errands all afternoon, I cleaned up the house.  This included cleaning my cast ironware frying pan, griddle and aebelskiver pan.  What’s that, you’re asking…the aebelskiver pan is a specialized pan of cast iron, about the same diameter as a 9” frying pan, with a handle and a series of cup-like indentations across its breadth.  A pancake-like batter is poured into these indentations along with a little jam or fruit filling; after cooking and turning and cooking again on the stove, small round cakes called aebelskivers are ready to dust with sugar or drizzle with syrup and eat.

 

Haven’t tried this pan yet, just want to prep it before breaking it in tomorrow and making aebelskivers in the morning for the kids.  Think they’ll like finding the little jam surprise in the middle of the cake.  Aunt Babs makes these, being of Nordic stock – she swears they must be turned with a large hat pin and not a fork or other pick device since using larger tools punctures and deflates the aebelskivers.  I’ll take her word on it; aebelskivers originated in Nordic countries and Babs is closer to the source by both ethnicity and age.

 

I bought this aebelskiver pan at a recent household auction.  After winning it with a final bid of 6 dollars, the auctioneer’s assistant handed the pan to me gingerly asking me if I knew what it was.  The auctioneer had only introduced the item for sale as a pan, after all.  I told her yes, I expected to make aebelskivers with it soon.  Oh, she said knowingly, that’s great…there are some recipes on this card that was taped to the pan, you might want them.  Thanks so much, I said, preparing to take my booty to the car.  But she touched my arm, saying, You know, I have an aebelskiver pan too…it’s a Griswold!  She smiled and nodded to emphasize this last point; I said, Oh, how nice for you…and walked to my car thinking, What the f*ck is a Griswold???

 

Of course, I recount this to my mom who’s attended the auction with me, and ask her what the hell is a Griswold?  (Picturing some sort of absurdity from a National Lampoon Vacation movie series, I can’t stop laughing.)  Mom blessedly explains that Griswold is a brand of cast iron pan, like Wagner (with which I’m familiar).  Griswold is supposedly the best, according to aficionados of old cast ironware.  When we arrive home from the auction, we check my collection of old cast iron pans to see what I have, whether Wagner or other makes.

 

Ahhh.  Lucky me, I’ve got the world by the tail: I’ve got a Griswold.

 

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Aebelskivers

 

Ingredients:

2 cups buttermilk or 4 tbsp. powdered buttermilk & 2 cups water

1 tsp. baking soda

3 eggs

2 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

Cinnamon or nutmeg or cardamom (optional)

½ tsp. salt

 

Instructions:

Warm and lightly oil your aebelskiver pan. Let pan slowly heat up while mixing the batter.  Break and separate the eggs, and beat the yolks. Add sugar, salt and milk to the egg yolks.  Mix in the flour, soda and baking powder.  Mix well.  Beat egg whites. Add to the flour mix and place a tbsp. of mix in the egg pan.  Drop by the spoon full in the hot oil and cook one side.  Turn over and cook other side.  Roll in cinnamon and sugar, powdered sugar or eat with butter and jam.

 

To make filled aebelskiver:
Add about 1/2 teaspoon jam to the batter in each cup just before turning the aebelskiver to cook on opposite side.

 

 

Aebelskiver With Wild Rice

[From the kitchen of Beatrice Ojakangas]

Makes 20 servings

 

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked, drained wild rice

1/2 cup melted butter

3 eggs, separated

1 cup milk

2 tbsp. sugar

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground cardamom (optional)

Powdered sugar

 

Instructions:

Blend wild rice, melted butter, egg yolks and sugar in large mixing bowl.  Stir flour together with baking powder salt and cardamom.  Blend into the wild rice mixture.

 

Whip egg whites until stiff. Fold into mixture.

 

Bake in hot aebelskiver cups.  Put 1/2 tsp. butter into each cup, allow to melt, then add mixture, cook about 1 minute on each side.  A knitting needle or long wooden skewer makes it easy to turn the aebelskiver. Serve hot dusted with powdered sugar.  Makes about 20.

 

[Wild Rice Recipes by Beatrice Ojakangas and Susan Poupore and the Minnesota Paddy Wild Rice Research and Promotion Council]

  10:42:56 PM    comment []