Aebleskiver

Ahh, the Danes. They make great food, or at least pastries. Aebleskiver is a pastry or sorts, but is more of a pancake. They are sort of spicy, not in a hot spicy way, rather a they have a variety of spices in them way. They are pretty tasty and you can add a filling or dip them in a jam or syrup or whatever you want to dip them in. So, on with the recipe! Also, it should be noted that an Aebleskiver pan is needed to make them round. They are not too expensive and some stores sell them as "pancake puff pans". Here are a few places you can buy them: Amazon, Target, Food Network, andKitchen Kapers.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of flour
• 2 tablespoons of sugar, vanilla sugar is prefered, but not required
• 2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• A dash of ground nutmeg
• A dash of ground cloves
• 1 egg, beaten until well mixed
• 3/4 of a cup of milk, soy milk works well too
• 2 tablespoons of melted unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Directions

• Stir the flour, sugar, baking powder, and dry spices in a large bowl
• Mix in the egg, milk, butter, and vanilla until well mixed
• Heat an aebleskier pan over medium heat
• Prepare with cooking spray 
• Pour batter into each cup until about 2/3 full, make sure you remember which one you poured first (that is very important)
• Cook for 3-4 minutes, or until golden.
• Use a skewer to lift one edge and turn it about 1/4 of the way so that the uncooked batter runs out to cook
• Repeat until all sides are golden

How to Fill Aebleskiver

You do not have to fill the Aebleskiver, but it does taste better if you do. There are several ways to do this, I will tell you the two easiest ways that I know. 

The first the one that many are most comfortable with; filling it after they are done. For this you will need a pastry bag or a pastry filler. Put your filling into the bag or filler and stick it into the pancake and fill. Tada! Filled pancake. 

The second is the slightly harder and works best with dense fillings that clump together and does not melt quickly such as Nutella or fruit preserves. For this you will only need to fill the mold 1/3 of the way full of batter. After that you place your filling in the middle so that you cook the pancake around it. 

There you have it. A good Danish recipe, one of my friends said they wanted me post one. Also, these taste good rolled in powdered sugar and if you use a pastry bag to fill the Aebleskiver the sugar clumps around the hole and seals it for you. Isn't that fun? I hope you enjoy making these and like the way they taste!

Raspberry Torte

Well, it has been a super busy month since I posted last. I got publish, which is why I have not put anything new up for a bit. Huzzah! If you are all interested in knowing more about the book, please hop on over to my German language blog and translate the post about it there. 

Anyways, this is a recipe for a Raspberry Torte that I was given a few years ago. It's pretty tasty. One of my friends made it on St. Valentine's Day and it turned out well for her. So, here is the recipe for you all! Hope you all enjoy it as much as everyone else has! Fair warning though, this cake takes a great deal of work to make and it is very touchy to humidity. If it is too humid the cake will have a greater chance of falling and if it is too dry it will crack and not go together right.

Ingredients for Cake

• 5 eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup of shortening
• 1/2 cup of butter, softened
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 2 cups of cake flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 cup of buttermilk
• 1 cup of toasted pecans, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup of flaked coconut
• 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar

Ingredients for Filling/Frosting

• 1 cup of raspberry preserves, warmed
• 11 ounces of cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup of butter, softened
• 6 1/2 cups of confectioners' sugar
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup of chopped pecans

Directions

• Let eggs stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. In a large mixing bowl, cream the shortening, butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour and baking soda; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk. Stir in pecans and coconut.
• In another mixing bowl and with clean beaters, beat egg whites and cream of tartar on high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold a fourth of egg whites into the batter, then fold in remaining whites.
• Pour into three greased and floured 9-in. round baking pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 28-30 minutes or top springs back lightly when touched. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.
• Spread raspberry preserves over the top of two cake layers. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and confectioners' sugar until fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Place one raspberry topped cake layer on a serving plate. Spread with some of the frosting. Repeat with second raspberry topped cake layer. Top with plain cake layer. Spread remaining frosting over the top and sides of cake. Sprinkle with nuts.

Well, there you have it! Hope you enjoy! It is definitely worth the trouble. Also, if you replace the plain sugar in the cake with vanilla sugar it give the cake a bit more flavour. Also, you can put some frosting between the layers in additions to the preserves. If you choose to do that though keep in mind that you will need to frost the cake before putting the preserves on.