Vanilla Cognac Aebleskiver

Dorothy's sentiment, "There's no place like home!" is so very appropriate for us. We've been traveling quite a bit off and on for the last year. It always takes a little bit to get adjusted to being back home and not living out of a suitcase.

For the last two months, we've been in Florida helping my Dad care for my Mom who had a stroke in late October. I took over from my brother who went down when she was released from the hospital. He spent a month helping them with all aspects of their life and the logistics of physical and speech therapy and traveling to her various doctor's. When we arrived, I took over the running of the house and let my dad focus on her care, while together we negotiated the changes in her diet directed by her doctor (diabetes and GERD).

Her prognosis is wonderful. The doctor's were able to get to her within 20 minutes of the onset of the stroke and give her the stroke drug. Her neurologist believes that she will be back to her normal self at around six months from her stroke.

Our family and friends were absolutely fabulous and banded together to help us out. So many stopped by to sit and visit, drop off Christmas goodies or part of their citrus harvest (Meyer lemons, kumquats, naval oranges and grapefruit) and to give us a sholder to lean on.

Leaving them and coming back home was bittersweet, as we were torn between wanting stay and help and the need to get back to our home, however the shock of returning to a New York winter has us shivering in our shoes.

While getting settled back into the house we had an interesting discovery, every severe cold snap a mouse takes up residence and this one had a taste for fine chocolate. This mouse managed to find it's way upstairs into the kitchen pantry and was working it's way through a 1/2 pound block of bittersweet Callebaut chocolate. Obviously a mouse of discerning taste, it left all the other items in the pantry alone.

As you can guess that started me on a frantic cleaning frenzy and a purging of the pantry (just in case). While my husband donned his hunter persona and started stalking his wily rodent prey. A hunt that while successful, seems to be never ending as the temperatures drop at night making the little furry fellows seek out the warmth of our home.

With freshly washed and scalded cookware, I have started cooking and baking again. After reseasoning my aebleskiver pan, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to bake up several batches of these delightful and poppable breakfast delights.

This version is a bit sweeter than my version filled with spiced apples, and has the added richness of flavor from a Madagascar vanilla bean flavored French cognac. Needless to say, these didn't last long as my son tended to grab them by the handful and eat them like candy.

Recipe

1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup millet flour
1/4 cup chestnut flour
3 Tb sweet rice flour
2 tsp chia seed meal *
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 Tb agave syrup
3 egg yolks
1 1/3 cup almond milk, soured with 1 Tb + 1/4 tsp vinegar
1 Tb vanilla cognac
5 egg whites

Batter

1. In a medium bowl, dump in the flours, chia seed meal, soda, baking powder, salt and stir together.

2. In another medium bowl, pour in the agave syrup, egg yolks, cognac and soured almond milk. Then stir the ingredients together.

3. Pour the liquid ingredients in to the dry ingredients and stir together. Set aside while you beat the egg whites.

4. Plop the egg whites in to the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat the egg whites on high speed until it forms firm peaks. Fold the egg whites in to the aebleskiver batter until blended.

5. Preheat the aebleskiver pan and then grease the cups with oil. Pour 3 Tb of batter into the bottom of each cup and cook for 4 minutes.

6. Use bamboo skewers to flip each pancake upside down and cook another 2 minutes. Remove the aebleskivers from the pan and set on a plate to cool. Makes 18 aebleskiver. Dust with powdered sugar and serve with warm syrup and jams, jellies or curds.

* Substitutions: You can substitute 2 tsp flax seed meal or 1 tsp xanthan or guar gum for the chia seed meal.

Aebleskiver - Apple Stuffed Pancakes

My children were very curious about a pancake pan that we noticed while we were out shopping. With rounded indentations and made out of black cast iron, the pan was for making Danish aebleskiver. Completely captivated by the idea of little round pancakes, we bought the aebleskiver pan and brought it home.

The origin of aebleskiver is unknown, but Karl Jorgensen, former owner and publisher of the Santa Ynez Valley Visitor's Magazine had his own theory. He thought that a group of battle weary Viking's returning to their ship wanted to have one of their favorite foods from home. All they had to cook on was a banged up shield. The pancakes cooked on the shields produced little pancake balls that are now called aebleskiver, now a traditional Danish dish. Traditionally, aebleskiver were served around Christmas and were filled with slices of apple or applesauce. At the Solvang Restaurant in California, they serve their aebleskiver topped with raspberry jam and powdered sugar.

Other nations have dishes similar to aebleskiver, the Dutch have poffertjes, the Japanese have takoyaki, the Thai have kanom krok, and the Indians have kuzhi paniyaram or gunta pongadalu.

Aebleskiver batter is very versatile and can be sweet as well as savory. Try adding chocolate chips to the center or dip in lemon juice and powdered sugar. For a savory options try coconut milk and corn or green chilis and Monterey Jack cheese.

However you choose to eat them, aebleskiver are lots of fun. My children were very entertained by eating the round pancakes with their fingers and dipping them into maple syrup. My husband and I enjoyed how each little ball was crispy on the outside and slightly gooey on the inside. Our new aebleskiver pan has gotten a workout as we have become enamored with these crispy little pancakes.

Recipe

Equipment Needed: Cast Iron Aebleskiver pan (mine is from Lodge)

Apple Filling

1 Tb butter
3 Tb brown sugar, packed
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled & finely chopped
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 Tb orange juice

Pancake Batter

1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup corn flour
3 Tb cornstarch
3 Tb sweet rice flour
2 tsp flax seed meal *
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp agave syrup
3 egg yolks
1 1/3 cup oat milk, soured **
5 egg whites

Filling

1. Dump in the butter, brown sugar, apples, nutmeg, cinnamon into a skillet and cook on medium heat. Stir the apple mixture frequently until the apples are tender. Remove from the heat and drain off the liquid. Set aside and allow to cool.

Batter

2. In a medium bowl, dump in the flours, flax seed meal, soda, baking powder and salt. Stir together.

3. In another medium bowl, pour in the agave syrup, egg yolks and soured oat milk. Then stir the ingredients together.

4. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir together. Set aside while you mix the egg whites.

5. Plop the egg whites into the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat the egg whites on high speed until it forms firm peaks. Fold the egg whites into the pancake batter until blended.

6. Grease the bottoms of the cups of the aebleskiver pan. Pour 1 Tb of batter into the bottom of each cup and cook for 2 minutes. Place 1 tsp of apple filling in the center of each pancake. Then place another tablespoon of batter on top of the apple filling. Cook for another 2 minutes.

7. Use bamboo skewers to flip each pancake upside down. Cook each pancake another 2 minutes. Remove each pancake from the pan and set on a plate to cool. Makes 18 pancakes.

* You can use flax seed meal, psyllium seed meal or chia seed meal.

** How to make soured oat milk: Use 1/2 cup of certified gluten free oats, 1 Tb agave syrup and 2 cups of water. Dump the oats into your food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Then add the agave syrup and pulse. Pour in the water and pulse to blend. Be careful not to pulse too long as the water might leak out from under the lid of your food processor and onto the counter. Store oat milk in the refrigerator. To sour the oat milk pour 1 1/4 tsp vinegar into the milk and stir. Allow to sit for a few minutes.