As Rachael Would Say, Yum-o!

In early December Abi and I were strolling along Main Street, window shopping and browsing our way in and out of some of our favorite stores.  We haven't lived here for very long so we continue to look for new discoveries. One of my favorite (I think it's everyone's favorite) stores is called, Paddington Station.  On the 3rd floor of the store (Yes! there are three floors of happiness) there is a veritable wonderland of kitchen goodies and you can probably guess how much I love a kitchen store!  I am always on the look-out for the latest kitchen gadget.  As we were roaming, my eyes caught sight of a cookbook with a cover photo of something that looked like pure yumminess.  I pointed it out to Abi and then we continued on our merry way.

Come Christmas morning guess what was under the tree for me?!  Yep, my husband pays attention!  

Ebelskivers - pronounced Abel Skeevers

It took two batches of batter to get the hang of making these little puffs of yumminess, and one recipe of cream cheese filling that we all decided we didn't like, but oh my, my, my, the cinnamon apple filling was proof positive that I was on to something big!

Cinnamon Apple filled Ebelskivers

The cookbook tells the reader to use wooden skewers to flip/turn the pancakes but it turned out I was skewer dysfunctional so after two rounds I tossed the skewers and used a regular table (cereal) spoon and it worked really well.  I rarely cook with a heavy cast iron pan so I had to remember that the pan holds a tremendous amount of heat and I burnt a few before I found just the right level of gas on the stove to keep the heat in the pan consistent.  See, this is why the whole first batch of batter found its way to the trash! 

Basic Batter:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 large eggs, separated

1 cup whole milk 

2 tblsp unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, lightly whisk the egg yolks, then whisk in the milk and melted butter.  Add the yolk mixture to the flour mixture and using a wooden spoon, stir until well-blended.  The batter will be lumpy.

In a clean bowl, using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the egg whites until stiff, but not dry, peaks form.  Using a silicone spatula, fold about one-third of the egg whites into the batter to lighten it, then fold in the rest just until no white streaks remain.  Use the batter right away.

(makes batter for 21 pancakes)

* Use the basic batter recipe for savory-filled pancakes and for sweet-filled pancakes add 1/2 tsp vanilla extract to the batter.

Possible fillings for sweet-filled pancakes:

Chocolate Chip

Cinnamon Apple

Lemon Poppy Seed

Cherry Almond

Strawberry Shortcake

Sticky Toffee

Salted Caramel-Pecan

Possible fillings for savory-filled pancakes:

Herb and Goat Cheese

Walnut, Pear and Blue Cheese

Spicy Corn

Spinach and Feta

Smoked Salmon and Dill

Fig and Prosciuto

Potato and Green onion