Better than the first snow, is the first dusting of powdered sugar on a fresh batch of banana chocolate ebelskivers. Rachel Ray says it’s actually pronounced “ay-bell-sk-vers.” The girl who calls sandwiches “sammies” may not be the best source for proper pronunciation, but I couldn’t find the pronunciation in dictionary.com. It’s Danish after all. It won’t matter how you say it. You’ll be too busy eating to speak.
The Story
It was a cold Sunday morning. It wasn’t snowing yet, but it was coming soon. After sneaking out of the warm bed into the cold, dark kitchen, I was greeted by a pair of overly ripe bananas and a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips. What better way to shake off the morning chill than with chocolate banana ebelskivers?
This was not my first attempt at ebelskivers. The first one didn’t go so well. However, I had been thinking about giving them another chance ever since a recent dinner with friends. These friends happened to have a young toddler. They told us about how they had been experimenting with all different kinds of ebelskivers, and how their toddler loved them. I was impressed they had mastered ebelskivers, while also managing a toddler. This inspired me to dust off my ebelskiver pan and try again.
Mastering the Flip
The trouble with my first attempt was “the flip.” I thought flipping ebelskivers, which are Danish pancakes, would be the same as flipping regular pancakes. With regular pancakes, once you see bubbles breaking on top, you know it is time to flip. Not true with ebelskivers. When I tried flipping them at this point last time, I ended up with a sticky gooey mess all over the pan, and not the cute little doughnut-ball pancakes I’d expected.
Let’s see how my second attempt went…
Success! Now, that makes me happy.
The Moral of the Story
Don’t be discouraged if at first you don’t succeed when baking a new recipe. Give it another whirl. You may be pleasantly surprised on your second try.
About the Recipe
This is the combination of two recipes. I started with a basic banana pancake batter from Allrecipes. Then I followed the directions for making chocolate ebelskivers from Squidoo.
The Cast of Characters
Two mashed bananas are the featured players in this recipe, with a cameo appearance by about a half cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips. For a listing of the rest of the cast, see the complete recipe for Banana Pancakes I on Allrecipes.
The Play-by-Play
Mix together your dry ingredients: one cup flour, one tablespoon sugar, two teaspoons baking powder and a fourth teaspoon salt.
Get out another bowl, and mix up your wet ingredients: one egg, one cup milk, two tablespoons vegetable oil and the two mashed bananas.
Then do the hokey pokey, and put your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients, and stir them all together.
Take one tablespoon of unsalted butter, and divide it into seven smaller pieces. Place one piece into each divet in your ebelskiver pan. Warm the pan on medium-low heat to melt the butter.
Now it’s time to add the batter. Place one tablespoon of batter into each of the buttered divets.
Now it is time to add the star of the show: chocolate chips! Place about six chips in each divet. Then cover the chips with a little more batter and cook over medium-low heat for about 10-15 minutes.
Now, are you ready for the flip?
Here comes the tricky part. The ebelskivers will be bubbling on top, but that is no guarantee they are ready to be flipped. You also should poke them with a toothpick to make sure they are done in the middle. It’s like testing a cake. They’ll still look moist on top, but no batter should stick to the toothpick. Now you are ready to flip.
But before you do, carefully run a toothpick around the edges of each ebelskiver. This will loosen them from the pan. Then you can use the toothpick, chopsticks or ebelskiver turner to flip them all the way over.
Pictured below is what they should look like when you are done. Well, the ones on the right are what they should look like anyway. The one’s on the left are what they look like if you flip them too soon. Let’s just say I meant to do that for demonstration purposes. 🙂
Godt Arbejde! That’s Danish for “good work,” according to Google Translate.
And now for the first bite…
Yum! That’s “delicious,” according to me. Just the thing to warm you up on a cold winter day.
The Footnotes
Here’s a quick review of my tips for flipping your ebelskivers successfully to cook the second side.
- Butter your pan first: Melt about a tablespoon of butter divided equally among all the divets of your ebelskiver pan. This will help you avoid sticky situations later when it is time to flip.
- Take the toothpick test: Don’t be fooled into thinking they are ready to flip just because they are bubbling on the surface. Test with a toothpick, like you would a cake, to make sure they are done in the center before flipping.
- Loosen the edges: Run a toothpick around the edges of each ebelskiver before flipping. This will help to separate them from the pan for a smoother flip.
- Try different tools: I’ve tried flipping ebelskivers with toothpicks, chopsticks, and even an official ebelskiver turning tool. I’ve found it takes a combination of tools for a great flipping experience. I’ll start to flip them part of the way with a toothpick first, just because it is the thinnest of the three tool options I mentioned and easily gets under the ebelskiver. But it’s not quite sturdy enough to complete the flip. That’s when I pull out the official turning tool. You’ll need to experiment a bit to find a method that works best for you.
The Recipe: Banana Chocolate Ebelskivers
Servings:
21 ebelskivers
Instructions:
- Make the batter using the Banana Pancakes I recipe from Allrecipes.
- Grab a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips, and follow the instructions on this Squidoo post for making Chocolate-filled Ebelskivers.
Have you ever made ebelskivers? Or does the thought of making them send shivers up your spine? And how do you pronounce ebelskiver?