Oatmeal Stout Aebleskiver (Danish Ball Pancakes)
If the most important meal of the day is breakfast, then why aren’t there beers for breakfast? Why hasn’t Betty Crocker adapted at least one recipe for a beer-something? With raspberry beers, Oatmeal Stouts and coffee Porters, why not play up the first meal of the day with what we love? Brunch is the perfect way to enjoy a leisurely weekend morning | afternoon: good food, good beer and good friends. These Oatmeal Stout Aebleskiver, a Danish style Ball Pancake, are traditionally served with seasonal fruit, a bowl of whipping cream, Whipped Yogurt, Malted Powdered Sugar, Barley Malt Maple Syrup, Rhubarb & Rodenbach Grand Cru Jam, jellies, honey, Nor Cal Mole Chocolate Sauce, fruit compotes, beer curd, toasted nuts, granola and | or anything else that sounds would add texture, tartness, sweetness, crunch, chew, pop and lip smack’en. It’s breakfast, it’s a build your own bar, an excuse to chill and enjoy the simple things.
Ever seen a strange-looking pan at a gourmet cooking store or a garage sale and wonder what it’s for? This cast iron “monk’s” pan looks like a lunar landscape with its seven ingredients, but what this odd pan does to pancake batter is incredible, making round, donut-hole shaped pancakes. They are light, airy, tender and can be flavored many different ways. This recipe creates an Oatmeal Stout Aebleskiver, using the Oatmeal Stout as a flavor inspiration. Think about what an Oatmeal Stout tastes like, the last time you sipped this creamy, luscious, rich, roasty, with chocolate notes, malt, some light caramel undertones brew. Using this beer style, its characteristics, one can create a unique pairing. When designing this recipe, I wanted to highlight these qualities in the beer, that are more complex, unique to drinking and apply it to food, ultimately a breakfast format. Why not highlight the flavors of a Hefeweisen and morph it into a breakfast staple, banana clove _____________. In this recipe I wanted to take it one step further, by using Founders Brewing Co Breakfast Stout. This Imperial Stout meets all the requirements to be a flavor vehicle with oats, chocolate and coffee infused into an Imperial Stout.
I am a quarter Norwegian in ancestry. I remember as a kid having these Aebleskiver for breakfast. I sometimes wanted them for dessert too (think as a base for an ice cream sundae, malted beer syrup, chocolate sauces…). Each time my family makes this it’s a nostalgic tribute to my heritage, to help keep this technique, this recipe and how incredible they are!
Another way to serve these Oatmeal Stout Aebleskiver is to fill them. Think Nutella, chocolate beer sauce, jam, toffee (broken into a crumble), beer compressed fruit, or what might inspire you.
Below are some fruit topping ideas and suggestions:
Seasonal Variations:
- Raspberries with Pêche bier
- End of summer peaches with Framboise
- Figs and pomegranate seeds with Dubbel
- Tangerines, candied orange peel and Wit
- Cherries with toasted almonds | hazelnuts and Kriek
- Blackberries with cracked black peppercorns and Flanders Red
Makes: about 48 spherical pancakes
Adapted from BeerAdvocate Magazine: Cuisine à la Bière | Sep 2008 | Issue #20
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 4 guests | 10 minute |
| Cook Time | Passive Time |
| 15 minute | 30 minute |
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Beer Aebleskiver; these Nordic Cuisine origin-inspired recipe makes Oatmeal Stout Aebleskiver. Serve these for Breakfast | Brunch with jams, whipped yogurt, fresh fruit, syrups and create a breakfast 'bar'.
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- 4 each eggs, extra large at room temperature, separated yolks and whites
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup Stout, such as Founder's Brewing Co. Breakfast Stout or other American Double | Imperial Stout
- 3 tablespoon butter, unsalted melted
- 1 1/4 cup flour, all-purpose
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1 cup
flour, barley such as Bob's Red Mill Barley Flour
- 2 tablespoon Dry Malt Extract (DME) available at Beer Beer and More Beer or light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, sea
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1 each
Monk's Pan, or Aebleskiver pan, such as Seasoned Aebleskiver Cast Iron Pan
-
oil, vegetable put into a Squirt Bottle
- On your work space, have three bowls ready. Add the egg whites to one bowl and the egg yolks to another bowl.
- Beat egg whites with a whisk until stiff peaks form, set aside.
- To the egg yolks bowl add the buttermilk, Breakfast Stout and melted butter, and mix well.
- In a third bowl, sift the two flours with DME, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour the flour 'dry' mixture into the yolk "wet' mixture and lightly stir together, leaving a few lumps of flour. Do not overmix. Stir 1/3 of the beaten egg whites into the batter: This will loosen the batter. Fold in the next 1/3 of the whites and then the last addition, being gentle with the folding, keeping as much air from the whipped egg whites as possible in the batter.
- Heat the pan over medium heat. Using the squeeze bottle, add a few drops of oil to each inverted dome. Take a folded paper towel and wipe each hole to coat evenly. Add about a 1/4 cup of batter to each hole. After about 1 1/2 minutes, using a skewer, loosen the aebleskiver by running the tip between the pan and the pancake, then flip each pancake over and cook another 45 seconds to a minute. Test to see that the heat is right: a nice golden crust on the outside and almost like a thick waffle on the inside.
- Store each batch in a preheated 200°F | 93°C oven, while the next batch is being made.
- To serve, set up a buffet with bowls of seasonal fruit (macerated in a fruit beer), malted whipping cream, beer jelly, local honey, bourbonized maple syrup and raspberry beer syrup. Remove the aebleskivers from the oven, dusting lightly with Malted Powdered Sugar.
Recipe Variations:
- Fill the monk pan with slightly less batter and add a 1/2 teaspoon of raspberry| cherry | beer jelly | jam and top with a teaspoon of batter for filled pancakes.
- Add shaved chocolate to the batter to make chocolate chip aebleskivers.
