The Return of the GBBO Translation: Æbleskiver

Okay, people, I guess we’re doing this. I’ve seen the jokes about cooking blogs taking forever to get to a recipe, so here’s your chance to skip all the intro and notes (a.k.a. the fun stuff) and jump right to the end.

I mentioned recently that after idly poking through statistics from my old baking blog, I was surprised to find significant activity on the dormant site. My old entries converting Technical Challenge recipes featured on the Great British Bake Off (Baking Show) into recipes that are more accessible for us dumb Americans were still accruing a remarkable number of views.

The quiet popularity (i.e. thousands of views, zero comments) combined with the fact that I do, in fact, still enjoy baking has inspired me to throw the occasional baking entry onto this blog. I already bounce around from various topics like made-up monsters to home repair to real life monsters politics. Why not throw baking into the mix. It’s a blog salad. (Scratch that. It sounds disgusting.) And this post has been a long time coming. The abandoned draft over on Beyond the Box was last modified on August 19, 2019. That’s nearly three years.

I wrote and shared a handful of these translations and even went to the effort of compiling a complex spreadsheet for my own records detailing the bake featured in each episode of each season, where the episode was available for streaming, and whether I could find a recipe for it or not. Then one day, whilst wandering through a flea market/antique shop, I walked past this weird little pan, did a double take, and before I even saw the tag, I exclaimed, “Aebleskiver!”

“Bless you!” said Kalen, offering me a handkerchief.

The two friends who were browsing with us turned to see what oddity I had found and seemed politely confused at my excitement. We meandered these stores mainly to laugh at some of the random things people try to sell, and often the astounding values people assign to their garbage. But I had not found garbage. I had found treasure. I don’t remember at this point what it cost, but it was not much, maybe $15, and the cast iron was in beautiful condition. It was also the only thing keeping me from trying the technical challenge featured in Season 9, Episode 8, Danish Week: Æbleskiver (If you want to watch the episode, it can be streamed on Netflix as part of “Collection 6”). And because it’s a Danish recipe, this sort of makes it a double translation, from Danish to British English and then to American English, and if any Danes stop in and read this and find it heretical, I offer my deepest apologies. I’d love to come to Denmark and try authentic Aebleskiver some day.

I purchased the pan and did initial groundwork for drafting the blog and then…. who knows? I just never finished it. The pan has lived in my kitchen cabinet for three years only coming out to provide weight when I need to press tofu. But after three long years (maybe longer, since someone presumably said, “I never use this, I might as well sell it!”), it will fulfill its purpose!

In The Great British Bake Off (or the Great British Baking Show, as it is called in the US for legal reasons that are stupid), bakers compete elimination style to be awarded the title of best amateur baker in Great Britain. If you still haven’t watched it, you’ve been missing out. It’s delightful. Each week has a theme, and bakers are given three challenges related to that theme. The second challenge of each week is a Technical Challenge. The bakers are given a minimalistic recipe they’ve never seen before and a time limit.

Because the show takes place in the English countryside, American fans often find themselves asking questions like, “What the hell is a sultana? What makes that strong flour so strong? Why are they making cookies during biscuit week?” As a self-proclaimed Anglophile and passingly good baker, I’m here to translate (or take the fall if I translate incorrectly).

The recipe I’m working from is from the Great British Bake Off’s official site: Paul Hollywood’s Aebleskiver. I have copied and pasted it below to make my changes more apparent, interjecting my own original content in between. Of course, the whole translated recipe is at the very bottom, uninterrupted.

Makes: 16  Hands-on time: 30 minutes
Baking time: 45 minutes Skill level: Easy

In the episode, the bakers were asked to make 14 Aebleskiver, so this recipe should allow for 2 throw-aways (or tasters!). And if you do the math given above, the recipe should take… I don’t know, a little over an hour? It’s not totally clear if the “Hands-on time” is entirely separate from the “Baking time,” or if there’s some overlap, since this recipe doesn’t get baked in an oven where you can’t touch it. The cooking is still what I would call “hands-on.” The competing bakers were given an hour, and even though this says the recipe is easy, it appeared in the quarter finals, which is pretty advanced, and gave the five remaining bakers some trouble. Obviously, they were given less instruction, and I don’t think any of them knew what Aebleskiver were, but now that we’ve seen the episode, we have that advantage. (If you haven’t seen it, they look like little donut holes, sort of. The aebleskiver, that is, not the bakers.)

There isn’t anything too difficult in the ingredients and equipment list aside from the aebleskiver pan, which I’m sure is available for purchase on the vast expanse of the interwebs. As I said, I found mine by happy accident.

I have provided some rough volumetric conversions, but please use these with caution. I bake using a kitchen scale and I promise it will completely change how you bake for the better! Further, if you have a digital scale, it should have simple settings to give you measurements in grams or ounces, making a lot of conversion unnecessary.

I will note that caster sugar is essentially standard white sugar, but a little bit finer. You might be able to find something called baker’s sugar in your grocery store, but you can also just put your regular sugar in the food processor and whiz it around a few times. Or, you can just use regular sugar and know that it won’t dissolve quite as easily into the baked goods.

The other note I’ll make is about the buttermilk. Buttermilk is pretty readily available in the US, but I almost never have it on hand when I need it because I use it so rarely, and recipes never need the full amount that I can buy. Instead, I typically use regular milk lightly acidified with lemon juice or vinegar (all of which I do usually have on hand and can use separately before they spoil).

This part is pretty simple. Because the apples needed to be diced so small (1/2 centimeter is a little less than a quarter of an inch), I actually grated them on the big holes on my box grater. It was also faster for me, but if you’re a certified Fruit Ninja, go ahead and use a knife. I’m not a huge fan of nutmeg, so I only used a pinch and added a little ground clove and allspice. Give your spices a smell if you’re not sure which flavors you like and go with the ones that appeal to you.

Step 3 – Meanwhile, make the strawberry dipping jam. Tip the strawberries into a pan with the jam sugar. Bring to a boil, crushing the strawberries with a potato masher. Boil until the temperature on a sugar thermometer reaches 102°C 215°F, then remove from the heat and press through a metal sieve, to remove the pips seeds. Add a knob of butter to the strawberry purée to disperse any scum, then leave to cool to a warm, runny jam. 

Again, pretty simple, and pretty similar to the previous step. Because this step wants the fruit to reach a specific temperature, I’m using an instant read thermometer. I have a candy thermometer, but it’s honestly much more of a hassle to use. Instant read thermometers can get pretty pricey, but I love mine and get way more use from them than I ever imagined. I asked for one for Christmas, and because of a communication mixup, I ended up with three. I returned one of them for credit with my favorite baking supply company (shout out to King Arthur Baking!).

Step 4 – Make the batter. Whisk the egg white and sugar together until fluffy and stiff, but not dry. Set aside.

Step 5 – Sift the flour, salt, and bicarbonate of soda baking soda into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Mix the buttermilk and egg yolk together in a jug. Melt the butter in a small pan and set aside to cool slightly. 

Whisking egg whites to stiff peaks always feels like magic to me. In the final recipe I changed “jug” to “small bowl” but what actually works best here is a glass measuring cup with a spout. Use what you have. And if you think I’m dirtying another pan just to melt 2 Tablespoons of butter, you’re out of your mind. That’s going in the microwave for about 20 seconds.

Step 6 – Using a handheld electric whisk, gradually pour the buttermilk mixture into the well of the dry ingredients, whisking continuously to a smooth batter.  

Step 7 – Slowly whisk in the melted butter, then carefully fold in the egg white mixture. 

Several of the GBBO recipes I’ve encountered mention a “handheld electric whisk.” I do basically have one of these, although it’s technically a stick blender with several different blade attachments, and one of those happens to be a balloon whisk. I don’t know if it is an actual, direct translation, but almost every time I’m instructed to use an “electric whisk,” I just use either my stand mixer with the whisk attachment or a smaller hand mixer (depending on the size of what I’m mixing). This was a pretty small batter so I used the smaller mixer today.

Looks like batter to me. Also, am I the only one who thinks it’s weird that there is as much filling and dipping sauce as there is batter? And the apple filling is dark. I suspect the cinnamon is the culprit; a whole tablespoon felt like a lot for this application. Time for the tricky part.

Step 8 – Heat the aebleskiver pan over a medium–high heat. Dot a little knob of cold butter into each of the 7 holes to grease. When melted, spoon the batter into the holes until they are ¾ full, then reduce the heat to medium and cook for 1–2 minutes, until the edges begin to firm. 

I have an electric stove, and the aebleskiver pan is cast iron and the bubbles make for an unusual surface on this pan. I was very careful to not scratch my glass cook top, and I think it worked out fine, but if you’re in the same situation, be careful. I also expect this might not be the most efficient heat use, but what else can I do.

Step 9 – When the edges are firm, turn the aebleskiver through 90 degrees using 2 wooden skewers, allowing the batter to flow into the pan. It’s as though you were turning the aebleskiver over in the hollows, but you stop once you get to a quarter turn.

Step 10 – At this point there is a hole in the side of the aebleskiver. Spoon a little of the spiced apple mixture into the hole and turn the aebleskiver another 90 degrees to close. Cook for 3–4 minutes, until firm.   

This is the part where the bakers on GBBO struggled, and I’m sure it’s because the instructions were pared down significantly. I remember watching this the first time and as each contestant read their instructions, I could not picture what they were meant to be doing. Even after someone figured out the mechanics of it, I was pretty doubtful that I’d ever be able to accomplish such a thing.

I’ll be honest, I did cheat a bit. On the first batch I must have waited too long to turn them and none of the batter was liquid enough to flow out when I turned them, so I after I added my little scoop of apple filling, I added a little more batter. It seemed to work fine, but I did have a better grasp of the method after the first round.

They remind me of that little magnetic kids fishing game, where their mouths open and close as they spin in a circle. Tastes better than the plastic magnet fish, though.

Step 11 – When the aebleskiver are firm, turn them regularly for about 4–5 minutes more, until they have an even and golden-brown crust. Remove from the pan and serve dusted with icing sugar.