TheCupbearer: What in the World Is a Ebelskiver? (Tollhouse Ebelskivers)

Last Christmas my dad and his sweet wife purchased an Williams Sonoma Ebelskiver pan, cookbook, and ready mix for me. Knowing that I am into cooking, they figured that this might be the perfect addition to a kitchen that was already overflowing with gadgets (and gimmicks). I have to admit, when I first saw it I wondered how often I would use it and where I would store it. Here was the beauty of their gift...since they gave me the ready mix, it was easy enough to give it a try...and we fell in love with the Ebelskiver from our very first bite. Originally from Denmark, Ebelskivers (pronounced "able-skeevers") are essentially a filled pancake. They were traditionally served during the holidays and at celebrations.

Ebelskiver pan

Since that first day our family tried Ebelskivers, I have made them for breakfast, dinner and dessert. Making Ebelskivers is actually a pretty interesting process. It is not something you whip together in a few minutes, but if you have the time and a some basic ingredients, you can make almost anything. Some of my most famous were pepperoni pizza Ebelskivers, apple pie Ebelskivers and this post, which is Tollhouse Ebelskivers...for breakfast. (By the way, I am not sure why I capitalize the word Ebelskiver, but I cannot stop, so bear with me.)

Tollhouse Ebelskivers Recipe (for Breakfast)

This basic recipe for Ebelskivers came with the William Sonoma pan that I received. The filling is chosen by you and any topping...in this case it is the chocolate chips and the syrup.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbls sugar
4 eggs, separated
2 cups milk
4 Tbls (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted (plus 1/2 stick more for cooking)
Chocolate chips
Syrup for serving

Preheat oven to 150.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.

Separate the eggs.

In small bowl, lightly whisk the egg yolks. Then whisk in the milk and the 4 Tbls melted butter.

I microwaved butter for 35 seconds...

...and got this.

Whisk the yolk mixture into the flour mixture until well combined; the batter will be lumpy.

In another bowl, using and electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on high speed until stiff, but not dry, peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes.

Using a rubber bowl scraper, gently fold the whites into the batter until well combined.

This is not fully combined yet...

This is perfect.

Microwave another 1/2 stick of butter. Bring the batter and the melted butter and place near your Ebelskiver pan. I heat my pan to 3 (out of 10) on my GE Profile cooktop. I'm not sure what that translates to on your stove top, but the key is that you will be putting butter in each well and you do not want it to burn it.

Using a spoon, put about 1/2 Tsp of butter in each Ebelskiver well. It should bubble immediately..just make sure that it does not burn the butter before the batter is placed in it.

Then fill each well (quickly) 1/2 full. Remember the order that you are filling them.

Butter is cooking...so act quickly!

Then, immediately add the chocolate chips to each one...in same order.

Then, immediately add more batter to each well, covering all of the chips completely. Continue to do this in the same order as these cook quickly.

For mine, they are about ready to flip, once I have topped them off. Start with the first one and work in order again. Using 2 chopsticks is the easiest. I have tried this with forks, which work, but not as easily as chopsticks. (Or you can buy Ebelskiver sticks, which are very expensive chopsticks.) Using both chopsticks, spin them upside down. Most of the time it does not work perfect, but you cannot tell once they are cooked. This takes a bit of getting used to, but you will master it pretty quickly.

After about 30 seconds, I flip them back to their original side for a final cooking (of about 30 seconds.) You basically want them a golden brown on each side, which allows the insides to fully cook and the filling to melt.

Then, place a oven safe plate in the oven and transfer your first batch into the oven while you cook the next set. Be prepared to chase a few around the oven, as they tend to bounce and roll.