December 8th. today my maternal grandmother would have turned 111. As long as my grandmother lived, the family would meet up at her apartment for gløgg and ebelskiver on her birthday. I loved this tradition, I loved this informal way to get together. So to celebrate my grandma Agnes, I'll share with you the recipe my mom used to make the ebelskiver for these gatherings.

Ebelskiver is a traditional danish dessert served at christmas time. This tradition is over 200 years old.

The word Ebelskiver (æbleskiver) means Apple slices. Ebelskiver started as slices of apples dipped in a sweet dough and fried in clarified butter, but evolved to these sphere shaped pancakes. Today ebelskiver is served with confectionary sugar and jam - best of all my moms homemade blackberry jam - yum.

Ebelskiver or Æbleskiver are plural, so no need to put a s in the end. ;0)

Ebelskiver is baked in a ebelskive pan like this.

This is my moms recipe.

Makes about 30 ebelskiver.

Ingredients:

250 g all-purpose flour
125 g butter (salted and melted)
375 ml milk (1,6 cups)
2,5 g salt (just under ½ teaspoon)
4 eggs
½ teaspoon cardamom
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 large lemon, the zest of

Directions:

Separate the egg yolks from the whites. Whisk whites with a mixer until stiff peaks form. Set aside.

Mix milk with flour, cardamom and baking powder till there's no lumps. Add the melted butter, egg yolks, salt and lemon zest. Let the batter rest for about 5 minutes.

Gently fold in the egg whites, do not over mix the batter, but you don't want spots of egg whites in the batter.

Heat the ebelskive pan. Fill the holes about ¾. As soon as the batter starts to bubble around the edge, turn* them halfway. When you have turned all halfway turn the ebelskiver all the way, so you end up with a perfect ball. Continue cooking, turning the ball to keep it from burning.

Serve the ebelskiver with confectionary sugar and a good quality jam.

* I use a knitting needle to turn the ebelskiver, but you can use a fork. I bought ebelskiver turning tools, but I have no idea how to work those.

The danish version:

Æbleskiver

Ingredienser:

250 g hvedemel
125 g smør (saltet og smeltet)
375 ml mælk
2,5 g salt (lige under ½ tsk)
4 æg
½ tsk kardemomme
4 tsk bagepulver
1 stor citron, reven skal af

Del æggene i hvider og blommer. Pisk hviderne stive.

Bland mælk, mel, kardemomme og bagepulver indtil der ikke er klumper i. Tilsæt det smeltede smør, æggeblommerne, salt og citronskallen. Lad dejen hvile i ca 5 minutter. Fold æggehviderne i dejen.

Varm æbleskivepanden. Bag æbleskiverne ved at fylde hulerne ca ¾ op. Når dejen bobler i kanterne vend æbleskiverne en kvart omgang, og når det er gjort med alle æbleskiverne, så vend dem hele vejen rundt, så de bliver helt runde. bliv ved med at vende æbleskiverne, så de ikke brænder på.

Server æbleskiverne med flormelis og en god marmelade.