I have a serious love of breakfast. I like savory eggs and bacon, egg in a hole, savory french toast. But I love a good sweet breakfast too. Just a slightly sweetened pancake batter with blueberries, pancakes with quinoa, waffles that I can tear apart with my hands to dip into real maple syrup. The list goes on...so being that it is one of my favorite meals, I have a lot of specialized equipment which I don't use too much for regular cooking. I have a Belgium liege waffle iron, a regular waffle iron, a juicer so I can have fresh squeezed orange juice with all the delicious things I make. So this year, with my Scandinavian brunch in mind, I purchased a Danish Aebleskiver pan. To great thing about these are that they are small and bit sized, but have many variations as you can stuff them with a teaspoon of jam or make them savory with cheese and scallions. Here is the basic recipe which came from Nordicware's Breakfast cookbook which is sent with the pan. I haven't have much time to try many variations, but I dream about the different ways they can be made and I long to crave another sweet day to knock out more....I think peanut butter and chocolate chips may be high on the list.
Danish Aebelskivers
Makes 21-35 aebelskivers
3 large eggs, separated
1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups buttermilk
Butter for greasing the pan
Beat egg yolks with sugar and salt. In another medium bowl whisk the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the egg yolk mixture, alternating with the buttermilk. In a small bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the batter gently. Heat the aebleskiver pan over medium heat. Brush a little butter into each well and add about a tablespoon (or until about 2/3 full). Cook for about 3-4 minutes. Turn with a chopstick and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Remove when browned on both sides. Place in a dish in a low heat oven to remain warm until serving. Serve with jam, syrup or your favorite topping.
I think I have mentioned that I have been on a whole grain kick recently. I also love to eat breakfast...if I could I would cook and eat breakfast every morning over a leisurely glass of orange juice, coffee or tea. So combining the love of breakfast and whole grains, I wanted to try Andrew Wiel's quinoa johnny cakes from True Food. This is also a restaurant which I have only been to once, but everything I ate and drank there was delicious. The kicker for this whole grain pancake is the toppings....plain yogurt and just a little real maple syrup. The down side is that the batter needs to sit an hour....and who wants to wait an hour to cook up quick pancakes? I think it was worth it. I am going to try to reheat them tomorrow for breakfast since it makes quite a lot of pancakes. Note: Reheating worked well. They were almost as good as the morning I had made them.
Quinoa Pancakes
1 cup red quinoa (though you could use any color)
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons light brown sugar or cane sugar
1 tablespoon plus 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup milk (I usually use 2%)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup blueberries
greek yogurt and maple syrup for serving
Bring a medium saucepan to boil with 2 cups of water and a pinch or two of salt. Once boiling add the quinoa and stir. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes or until all the water has evaporated and the quinoa is fluffy. Set aside to cool. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. Whisk to combine. In another bowl combine the milk, eggs, vanilla extract and oil. Stir to combine all ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients just until combined. Add the quinoa and gently mixed. Set aside for about an hour.
Brush the cooking surface with oil. Once hot add the batter in about 1/3 cup increments. Add the blueberries and press them in gently. When bubbles form and lightly browned, flip and cook until lightly browned. Serve with yogurt and maple syrup.
I have a hard time going out for breakfast. Many might ask why, but the answer is simple. I like to stay at home and eat good food. Breakfast is one of those meals which is very easy to make as long as you keep certain staples on hand. My staples include buttermilk, flour, sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup, butter, and eggs. If you have these things there are endless things you can make with them. This one I found in the Penzey's magazine. Penzey's, for those of you who are unfamiliar with them, is a wonderful spice shop. They used to be walking distance from my apartment in St. Paul. I used to go there to buy even just one spice if I ran out because it just smelled so good. Once I moved to Colorado and they appeared in my city, I was happy to go there. Plus, they kept giving out spices when I would get their catalog, so how could I say no to be able to try even more good things?
This pancake recipe is in their most recent catalog catalog. It is called German pancakes, but in a way I disagree with the name as I didn't see a pancake such as this when I lived in Germany. However, this does remind me of the Scandinavian pancakes which puff. I don't really like baked or cooked apples and this pancake is one which they don't bother me. Extra bonus it is really easy to make. The longest part was cutting the apple to put in the pancake.
Apple Pancakes
2 eggs
3/8 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons vanilla sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoon butter
1 medium granny smith apple, thinly sliced
Preheat oven to 400F while you prepare the pancake. Place a 9 inch pie plate into the oven to heat. Beat eggs, flour, milk and salt. Remove the pie plate from the oven and place 1 tablespoon of butter into it to melt. Spread apple slices into the bottom of the pie plate. Pour in the batter. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake at 400F for 20-25 minutes until the pancake is golden brown and puffy. Serve immediately.
Serves two, but can be doubled if more if desired.
