Wow! What a great, fun visit down memory lane this month’s edition of Capper’s Farmer magazine was! The wonderful Susi Jacobson article “Foraging for a Fall Wreath” brought back memories of Mother pulling over the car repeatedly throughout the fall while travelling down roads and byways to “harvest” teasel weed, milk weed pods and other interesting dry plant materials. Mom was very creative and would turn these articles of nature into pictures, flower arrangements, wreaths and other wonderful decorative products with a little glue, glitter, paint, and brain power. I grin thinking of her creativity every time I buzz by a patch of milkweed pod bursting, or teasel weed standing tall and prickly in salute.
And then farther on in the magazine I turned the page and low and behold a magnificent article on what we called in our family “Ebbleskewers”! Mom’s Grandparents came over on the boat from Denmark, so one of my inheritances from her is her Ebbleskewer pan. I got so excited reading the interesting and creative recipes shared and so much of the history of this wonderful “pancake” from my childhood that I promptly began soaking bread overnight in milk, dug out the pan, and the next day invited Dad over for a brunch with Mike and me. Linsey Knerl, thank you for reminding me of my Nana and that wonderful joy. And for giving my Father, husband, and myself a special brunch together to boot! For us, Ebbleskewers were an extra Christmas time treat. We have a basic recipe passed down to us which I thought I would share with you. It is not the lovely fancy ones listed in Linsey’s article, but it is a nice recipe that is not hard to make if you have the pan.
Nana’s Ebbleskewer Recipe
Soak 3 medium slices of white bread in one quart of buttermilk overnight. Add four cups flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon baking soda, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 2 tablespoons melted butter. Beat 4 eggs well and add. Slice thin pieces of apple to insert into the batter after poured into the pan. Heat Ebbleskewer pan on medium heat. Fill greased Ebbleskewer pan ½ full. Turn Ebbleskewers (we just turned them fully over 180 degrees one time) using a fork once the bottom sections have browned. Serve with confectioner’s sugar and/or honey.
In our more health conscious age, I used sprouted wheat bread instead of the white bread, and whole wheat flour instead of standard flour. Dad still liked them and Mike told me in all the years we have been married he did not remember me ever cooking them, so he did not have anything to compare them to. They were a hit and I am looking forward to trying Linsey’s recipes. We were too busy enjoying the food for me to remember to take a picture for you, so please enjoy Karen Keb’s pictures in Linsey’s article instead! And her recipes!
