Nearly a year ago I made my first aebleskiver, thanks to the good folks at Aunt Else’s who introduced me to this fabulous culinary orb at the Mill City Farmer’s Market. They gave me a pan and a package of their mix and off I went. Now I make them with my sons on a regular basis. The boys love the process of cooking them almost as much as eating them. We’ve tried stuffing just about everything but the kitchen sink in the centers. Sometimes sweet, sometimes savory. Seriously, if you cook anything in the shape of a sphere my kids will eat anything at all. Although I don’t always stick to the Aunt Else’s mix, I have to say it is better than any of the batters I’ve come up with so far. It is made with local, organic, whole grain ingredients so I can’t feel too guilty about using it on occasion. I’m still looking for the perfect recipe.
Last night was the threat of our first frost, which means winter is on its way and my garden is seeing its final days. Stefan came over to do a big harvest, which was bittersweet. I got such a gorgeous bounty, but it was one of the last. I will miss picking fresh veggies from my backyard farm. I dread going to the grocery store to buy things that I have picked for myself all summer. One of the plants in grave danger of being destroyed by the cold was the basil. I have LOTS of basil and in one cold snap it could all die. That was the inspiration for my pesto and mozzarella stuffed aebleskivers. Not exactly traditional, but a match made in heaven!
Pesto from one of my most used cookbooks How to Eat Supper:
1 large garlic clove
1/8 teaspoon salt
2/3 tight-packed cup fresh young basil leaves
2 heaping tablespoons pine nuts
1/4 cup grated Fiore Sardo sheep cheese or American Stella Fontinella: or 3 tablespoons fresh grated Locatelli Romano
1/2 cup fresh grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup Fresh Mozzerella, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
Pasta sauce for dipping (optional) – although the Country-Style Ragu from The Splendid Table will change your life.
Aebleskiver recipe: Aunt Else’s Mix or this one that I found on the LA Times Website (not whole grain)
To make the pesto:
In a mortar & pestle
Heat your seasoned pan over medium heat. Add 1/2 teaspoon of vegetable oil.
Fill the wells about 3/4 full, not too much or they will overflow when you add the filling.
Let them cook for about 2 minutes and then give them a turn, about 1/3 of the way around.
Quickly toss together the chunks of cheese with about 2 tablespoons of the pesto. Put in about a 1/2 teaspoon of the filling. make sure that the filling is poked down into the batter so that the cheese doesn’t end up sticking to the pan.
Complete the turns. To do this without burning your fingers or poking too many holes in the aebleskivers I use a pair of tongs to help. I discovered this because my young sons like to flip them all by themselves and I was afraid they’d burn their fingers. It works like a charm.
I served these with a salad from the tomatoes and basil in my garden, along with the fresh mozzarella.
We split the aebleskivers open and filled it with the Country-Style Ragu.
I think the question is more what kind WOULDN’T I make. I have five boys, Zoe. I think EVERYTHING would go into abelskivers. First order of business would be some sort of cornbread/taco meat filled variety. After that, perhaps a peanut butter filled one with a chocolate ganache topping…
Mine will definitely be cheese, cheese and more cheese 🙂
Wow, those are really fun! I think I would have to fill those with some apple spice mixture. So perfect for Fall.
I have always wanted to try these and would start with blueberry and cream cheese for sure, then perhaps apple with a carmel sauce.
maybe banana and cream cheese
What a tough question!! I have to say nutella does sound great… But I think I’d go for lemon curd with some fresh raspberry sauce (berries from Mill City market, of course).
We put all sorts of wonderful goodies inside our aebleskivers ~ my favorite is a blueberry, my husband’s is a tiny piece of sausage.
My recipe for aebleskivers: http://frenchknots.blogspot.com/2008/12/christmas-festivities.html
Broccoli in a thick cheesy white sauce with potatoes! Oh, yum! Yes please!
In the spirit of Thanksgiving right around the corner and leftovers galore…I would add small pieces of chopped turkey and cranberry sauce to the batter while cooking. When done I would drizzle with homemade gravy.
Cheese and home made pepper relish! Sounds like a great app to me!
I would make a cream cheese filling with fruit preserves and/or some pecans or walnuts.
Some of the stuffing I can see trying are:
– little bits of fresh ground pork/apple/sage breakfast sausage
– sweet corn and honey (with the addition of cornmeal in the batter)
– sweet bean paste
– crab, cream cheese, salt, white pepper and chives
– little bits of hot dog and baked beans (for the kids, the ultimate corn dog)
– I’d probably try a brownie type batter with a sour cherry coated in a thick paste of powdered sugar and corn starch. If that didn’t work I’d probably use the same batter and try little bits of ice cream and then freeze them afterwords.
I would make eggplant Parmigiana aebleskivers. I would cut up eggplants into tiny pieces and saute them. Then I would mix the eggplant with homemade sauce and Parmigiana. I would roll it in breadcrumbs before I put it the aebleskiver pan. Yum!
I’ve never had these before – but I’d love to try them! Your recipe sounds great. I’d also like to try a sweet version – maybe apples & maple syrup… Yum!
Well, Melinda already suggested cream cheese and strawberry jam, which would have been my original suggestion, good for her. So, my suggestion is for lingonberries stirred in sugar (jam), with a bit of sour cream. Wonderful blog, wonderful books; thanks for all.
These look fantastic and perfect for 2 very active little boys…we would fill them with fresh mozzarella and sausage and dip them in warm pizza sauce OR spinach and feta for mom!
Oh my Gosh zoe,
These look like the perfect thing to have…why do I say that coz I could totally be craving multiple things and satisfy all cravings in one go, I could make mexican aebleskivers with homemade salsa or italian aebleskivers or sweet ones filled with pistachio nuts drizzled with honey syrup to overcome baklava cravings, and some filled with chicken tikka…. I am drooling just thinking of the endless possibilities…. and their size is perfect enough too 🙂
Every Christmas we make Ukranian periske, which are little balls of yeast bread (look like dinner rolls) filled with a sauerkraut or hamburger mix. The hamburger ones are always more popular.
You brown hamburger and onions with salt, pepper, and dried oregano, then after it is cooked you add chopped hard-boiled eggs. They are definitely “stick to your ribs” food for winter.
The yeast dough is the most time consuming part of the recipe (or it was before the five minute artisan bread revolution), so I think an abelskiver adaptation for the hamburger filling would be faster, lighter, and maybe inspire us to make periske more than once a year!
I’m dying to try making these, and I’m thinking that a little Nutella just might have to sneak into them!
I’m thinking artichoke and feta or goat cheese with basil – haven’t had breakfast yet – now I’m hungry!
cheddar cheese, bacon and caramelized onion for me… a classic combination to try them out with for the first time!
Poppy seed filling might work well. Trying to think of something that hasn’t been suggested already is hard. Great blog and great book!
I’d love to try hot fudge and chunks of snickers bars… YUM!
I just tried making those! wanna know the result? It was a disaster! haha I don’t know why! They did not turn out to be round! But they were delicious!
You know what would be great? Apples, aged cheddar and walnuts mixed together with a bit of maple syrup!