Danish apple doughnuts (aebleskivers)

"These spherical Danish doughnuts are one of my favourite sweets, and they’re much easier to make than they look. You do need an aebleskiver pan, but if you can’t find one you can use an electric Dutch pancake maker or Japanese takoyaki pan." Adam Liaw, Destination Flavour Scandinavia

• makes

  32

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  35 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

Batter

• 300 g (2 cups) plain flour
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 tsp bicarbonate soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 4 eggs, separated
• 500 ml (2 cups) milk
• 1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
• 100 g melted butter, plus extra for greasing
• icing sugar, to serve
• raspberry jam, to serve

Fried apple

• 75 g unsalted butter
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 2 apples, peeled, cut into 1 cm cubes

Instructions

For the fried apple, melt the butter and sugar in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the apple pieces and cook, shaking the pan occasionally for about 6-8 minutes or until softened.

For the batter, combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks until well combined, then whisk in the milk and vanilla seeds to combine. Whisk the wet mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients just until smooth.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gently fold into the batter until combined.

Place the aebleskiver pan over medium-high heat and lightly grease with butter. Fill each hole with the batter and push a few pieces of apple into the top. Cook for 2-3 minutes until golden, then using a couple of toothpicks, carefully flip them over in the pan and cook for a further 2 minutes until golden and cooked through. Remove and set aside. Repeat with the remaining batter and apples.

Dust the aebleskivers with icing sugar and serve with raspberry jam.

Photography, styling and food preparation by Adam Liaw.

Visit the Destination Flavour Scandinavia program page for recipes, videos and more.

View recipes from past seasons: Destination Flavour Down Under, Destination Flavour Japan, Destination Flavour S1.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.