Recipe: Aebleskiver (Danish Doughnuts)

Aebleskiver (Danish Doughnuts)
1 cake compressed yeast of 1 package dry yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1 3/4 cups milk
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom or nutmeg or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Add yeast to water. Let stand for a few minutes, then stir until dissolved. Use very warm water (105 to 115 degrees F) for dry yeast; use lukewarm (80 to 90 degrees F) for compressed. Heat milk to lukewarm. Add yest to milk; add butter, sugar, salt, and 1 cup of the flour. Beat well with rotary beater; cover and allow to rise in a warm spot until bubbly. Beat eggs, add with remaining flour and the flavoring; again let dough rise until bubbly. Heat aebleskiver pan and grease very generously so that a small amount of the shortening remains in the bottom of the pan. Spoon batter into individual depressions, having each one about three-quarters full. Stand ready with a skewer, or, as the Danes do, with a steel knitting needle, and as soon as the pancakes show signs of browning around the edges, turn them. Turn them again if necessary to brown evenly on both sides. Serve at once with a shaker of powdered sugar or with jam or jelly. Makes 3 dozen, or 4 to 6 servings.
Variations: Often a cube of cooked apple, a couple of raisins, or a piece of cooked prune is dropped into the dough as soon as the depression is filed. (The literal translation of aebleskiver is "apple slice: so fond are the Danes of the additon of apples to their doughnuts.)
Note: You'll need a special aebleskiver or monks pan for these delicate little pancake balls, or you can bake them in a muffin pan.
From The Woman s Day Encyclopedia of Cookery Vol. 4 1966