Danish Sugarplum Pancakes

Danish pancakes (like doughnut holes) cook in an aebelskiver or ebelskiver pan.

We've turned them into our own "vision of sugarplums" for holiday entertaining by adding seasonal fillings like chocolate spread with ground peppermint candy, cinnamon-roll cream (cinnamon mixed into cream cheese or vanilla frosting), and fruit jam. While any basic pancake recipe works, ours yields a light, fluffy pancake.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• ⅛ teaspoon each: ginger, nutmeg, cloves
• 4 eggs, separated
• 2 cups milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup (½ stick) butter, melted
• Fillings of choice

Directions

1. Sift together dry ingredients in one bowl.
2. In another bowl, whisk yolks with milk, vanilla, and half the butter, and stir into flour mix.
3. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks; fold gently into the batter.
4. Because aebelskiver pan with Teflon™ nonstick coating concentrates the heat, cook over medium. Nonstick pans need no grease, but butter deepens the golden brown color, so brush some into each well.
5. When the wells are hot, fill about half way, add a dollop of filling, and cover with more batter just to the rim. *NOTE: If you aren't adding any fillings, add batter until it's just shy of the rim—the pancake will expand as it cooks.
6. As bubbles form (in 2 - 3 minutes), use a skewer to turn the sugarplums and allow them to finish cooking (1 - 2 more minutes).
7. Flip pan and sugarplums will roll right out. Serve as-is or with powdered sugar or syrup.