EB-el-sku-wyr.

yep. that is right. yesterday was æbleskiver day!  what is æbleskiver you ask?  well, let me take a page from aunt else’s website to clarify this strange term…

you may remember seeing me sample æbleskivers at the foodbuzz festival last month.  i sampled both sweet and savory varieties of æbleskivers.

recently, the president of æbleskiver contacted me and asked me if i would like an æbleskiver starter kit to try out.  i eagerly accepted chad’s offer and in no time i had my very own æbleskiver pan & mix~

the most ironic part about this whole situation is that i was reading my sister in law lindsay’s blog post the other day and she was recapping her trip to california.  she mentioned that izzy (my niece) was able to enjoy her favorite breakfast~æbleskivers dipped in butter and powdered sugar!  i had NO idea she knew what these were.  come to find out, she has an æbleskiver pan on her christmas list this year!  how random.  i decided to make my first batch of æbleskivers with lindsay and izzy since they already love them.  marshall also came along for the ride.

the first thing i had to do was season the cast iron pan.  this took about an hour~i washed the pan with soapy water, dried it, sprayed it with olive oil and then baked the pan upside-down for just shy of an hour. 

while the pan was seasoning, i got all my different fillings ready for the æbleskivers.  for simplicity’s sake, i am going to refer to them as balls from here on out.

apple+cheddar balls

ground beef+bleu cheese balls

bacon & laughing cow balls

and i also had plain, unfilled balls on the menu.

once the freshly seasoned cast iron pan had cooled down, i whipped up a batch of the batter.  check out the organic ingredient list:

i heated the pan to low-medium heat and filled each ball hole with a dime sized amount of olive oil~

and then filled each cavity almost all the way full~

then the fun part.. fillings!

i put a small piece of each filling in the batter~

 

and then the difficult part.. the first quarter turn. the balls stuck a lot more than i thought they would and it was a tad difficult to turn them. 

once i turned them the first quarter turn (using the wand that is included in the starter kit) i filled each cavity with more batter.

a few more quarter turns and i eventually had actual balls.

these were a little on the burnt side~ so i did whip up one more batch.  to my surprise the second batch didn’t stick at all!  i think the more i use the pan the easier this will get.

batch numero dos:

 

ah yes~much better! no sign of blackened balls ;)

plating time!

plain balls with powdered sugar

kid tested, mother approved. kix ain’t got nothin on these balls.

 

ground beef+bleu cheese balls served with sautéed mushrooms

the bleu cheese is what made these balls dy-no-mite! it was like a bleu cheese mushroom burger.. but mini sized!

 

apple & cheddar balls

 

gooey cheddar cheese? yes please.

and i have saved my favorite for last. i went back for more of this combo..

bacon & laughing cow balls + sunny side up egg + maple syrup

drool.

so there you have it! my æbleskiver experience. 

not only were the æbleskivers delicious, it was a fun experience in the kitchen.  i look forward to making these next time because i feel like i will have a better hang of things and will be able to make them faster!  i definitely recommend pairing the æbleskivers with eggs & maple syrup.  i cannot wait to try new, different combinations!

i would like to thank chad and aunt else’s for sending me the æbleskiver starter kit to try out!  i appreciate the fun opportunity :)

NOW.. the best part!!

would you like to own an æbleskiver pan of your own?! well aunt else’s has generously offered to give one æbleskiver starter kit away to one lucky reader!!

to enter:

• leave a comment telling me what you would like to fill your æbleskivers with!

for an additional entry:

• link back to this post (don’t worry about leaving an additional comment, your link will pingback automatically!)
• OR if you don’t have a blog, spread the word to someone you know about this giveaway and email me (janethabenson AT gmail DOT com) and let me know you did so!

giveaway will end wednesday, december 16th at midnight.

good luck!

i have lots of stuff to recap about the weekend~but i will save that for another post.  hope you all had a great weekend and are enjoying your sunday!!

xo. janetha b.