The Celery Stalk: Abelskiever

I got in Dave's car a few weeks ago and there was this weird cast iron pan in the floorboard. Apparantly something his dad had given him. It was like a skillet, but it had seven little cups. I had no idea what it could possibly be for - maybe poaching eggs but the cups looked too small. Anyway, I figured it would at least make an interesting conversation piece hanging from the wall.

Then maybe a week later I see this commercial for a "Pancake Puff Pan". Know what it was? Yeah, it looks exactly like that weird plan. I do some hunting on the internet and discover that pancake puffs are actually a Danish dish called Abelskiever. And they do sell actual Abelskeiver pans. If you're interested, you can even buy an itty bitty dollhouse Abelskeiver pan.

So I found and cleaned up the ole' pan and made some Abel...whateverthehell. It was good. A huge pita, but good. Like..well, like puffy pancakes.

Here's the recipe I used: Please note that I believe this is supposed to yeild approximately 48 thousand abelskeivers, so I recommend cutting it in half. I was bored with it after about 12 thousand of them.

2 c. buttermilk - which I didn't have so I used heavy cream (some of the
recipes apparantly call for heavy cream to begin with so I figured that was
safe)
4 eggs, separated
1/2 t. vanilla
4 c. flour - I only had whole wheat, and it was too dry, so I had to add
more milk
4 t. baking powder. Yikes. A lot of baking powder
1 T. sugar - except I used 2 b/c I didn't think it would be sweet enough
1/2 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
2 T. veg. oil - for the bottom of the cups, I used butter

Beat egg whites until stiff. In a separate bowl, beat egg yolks,
add buttermilk and vanilla. In a third bowl, combine dry
ingredients. Make a well and add wet ingredients. Fold in egg
whites. Place a little oil in the bottom of each cup, add batter.
Cook until bubbles form on the surface, then flip and cook the other
side.

O.k. notice it doesnt' say what temperature, so I did medium, but that seemed a little too hot...med-low'ish is about right. It is HARD to flip the suckers. A metal skewer works a lot better than a chopstick. My batter was too thick in the beginning, like I said, but maybe with regular white flour it would work as is. I got better at the flipping and judging when the first side was done after a few batches.

All in all, a fun little cooking experiment and they are yummy. But not something I'd do regularly, I don't think. I think next time I'll try adding something to the middle...maybe jam or fruit?
Oh...pics.
Cooking the first side. Potholder on pan handle is absolutely necessary. It's just instinctual to try to grab it when you're trying to flip. Ouchie.

Other side. They're not burned...well, the middle one is a little...just darker from the whole wheat. The middle one does cook a little faster, but there's not a great deal of uneven-ness, like I thought there would be.