Aebleskiver and Poffertjes

Aebleskiver and Poffertjes: Scandinavian culinary cousins with their own Wikipedia entries! These delightful baby pancakes have two noticeable differences that I have observed, which are that aebleskiver are more puffy and less sweet than poffertjes. They both are served under a blizzard of powdered sugar, jam, maple syrup, or a combination of all three. They are not really served for breakfast, like the all-American flapjack; they can be found at fairs and social events.

I was introduced to poffertjes by my Dutch friend Erik, who brought his own special poffertjes pan with him when he moved to New York. That's how good they are!! We quickly incorporated them into our annual New York City Marathon Brunch, taking big plates of them downstairs to eat as we watched the throngs of runners push past our apartment building in Brooklyn. Northern European runners looked on longingly, nearly tripping over their flag-cape wearing competitors.

Earlier this month Nick and I went to Portland for the day; we got there just in time for brunch at Broder, a Swedish-style cafe where everything is wonderful and beautiful. We sat at the counter and watched the cook prepare order after order of aebles on the enormous old stove.

cooking aebleskiver at broder in portland
Originally uploaded by isabelle gr

In the video, you can see a brand new batch on the right burner, a half-done batch being turned over on the left burner, and a nearly-done batch in the middle. The cook turns them halfway through with a skewer, although I read on Wikipedia that it is traditional to use a knitting needle. So feel free.

The photo up top is of our order of aebles (with apologies for the poor photo quality). They were well worth the wait. We had a great experience at Broder: the food was delicious and not too fussy, as was the decor. The staff was stylish and nice, a combination that is disarmingly common in Portland and rare everywhere else.