Recently, I visited my cousins in Bakersfield, California and as soon as I arrived, we did what we do best and ate. We found ourselves at a local restaurant called Sonder. It had this cute, hipster, bohemian feel to it. My cousin and I were eyeing the mimosas on the menu and ordered a whole bottle of champagne and craft orange juice. No regrets.
It’s brunch time and I’m in the mood for some bacon, because when am I not? I was just going to get a boring bacon cheeseburger (okay, it actually looked bomb, but for this story, it’s boring) until I spied something odd. A strange word. No clue how to pronounce it. The options for this foreign dish were “Brown Sugar, Fruited, and Elvis”. The dish was known as æbleskivers. What the heck is a æbleskiver and why do I already love it?
Long story short, æbleskivers are pancake balls. They’re made from pancake batter and whatever else you want inside of it (fruit, Nutella, whipped cream, etc). Traditionally, the sweet treat is sprinkled with powdered sugar and raspberry jam. There are plenty of different ways to pronounce this unique treat including “eb-el-ski-ver”, “a-bla-ski-va”, “eb-el-sku-wyr”, “ebb-ull-skee-vers”, or “able-skEEvers”. Using a special pan that has half-spherical molds these pancake puffs come to life. Anyone can make these fun-sized treats, but Vikings did it first.
Legend has it that while Viking warriors were returning from a battle, their shields were dented and essentially ruined. The men grew hungry and had nothing to cook in. They used their shields as a pan and bumpy pancakes were born. Today, special iron griddles are used. So, thank you, Denmark, you have forever changed my pancake of choice.
Back at Sonder’s, I ordered the “Elvis” and yes, I absolutely adored it. My puffs were gently placed on top of flavorful banana pudding, surrounded with peanut butter brittle that had my taste buds begging for more, and sprinkled with bits of Applewood bacon that made me want to dance after every bite. Okay, I did dance, but that could have been all the mimosas I was downing between bites. Oh, and it was smothered in this freshly made maple syrup. Lit.
Æbleskivers are sold in restaurants all over the world and can go by even more names, like pancake puffs. The most popular has to be the Solvang Restaurant in Solvang, CA just outside of Santa Barbara. There, you can find Arne’s Famous Æbleskivers as well as traditional Danish and American foods. Chef Arne has his own video on YouTube where he teaches you the differences between each pan. If you’re ever in the area, you can’t miss out on these Danish babies.
The next step in my journey of æbleskivers is an obvious one: make my own at home! I’ll buy the fancy pan, make my own batter and share my creations with my stomach and me. I can see it now. It’s a bummer that I have lived twenty-one years without æbleskivers in my life, but I’m ecstatic now that they are becoming more popular and making a comeback into everyone’s lives.
