Æbleskiver

The story

Æbleskiver are round, fluffy balls of batter cooked in a special pan with hemispherical wells and served dusted with powdered sugar alongside a cup of hot gløgg or cocoa, most often at Danish Christmas markets and all through December, not only on Christmas Eve itself. The name translates as “apple slices,” a holdover from an older version of the recipe in which a piece of apple was tucked into the center of each ball; that is less common today, but the name has stuck. The æbleskiver pan, with its distinctive rows of wells, is a nearly mandatory piece of equipment in Danish households during December, and turning the balls at just the right moment, as soon as the edges have set, is a small skill passed from generation to generation, accompanied by family laughter whenever someone flips one a little too carelessly. For Danish American communities in the United States, cooking æbleskiver in public at Christmas fairs remains a popular way to gather and to share Danish heritage with the wider neighborhood.