This is called an aebleskiver pan, and is is used to make a Danish pancake/pastry treat, traditionally served around Christmas time. They're like spherical pancakes made with a rich egg batter, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.
I had never even heard of aebleskiver until two months ago when my cast iron obsession started. I kept seeing these weird pans for sale on eBay, and had to go to Google to find out what they were used for. Well, predictably, one thing led to another and I ended up with this:
This is a Griswold pan, made sometime before 1957 (the picture shows the underside). I bought this at the beginning of April, but it's been in the lye bath since then for de-gunking, and I just got around to seasoning it last week.
As you can see, it has seven hemispherical wells, in which to cook the aebleskiver. You pour the batter in, then do a series of half-flips to create the spherical pancake-balls. Kind of hard to explain, so go watch this video.
When you're done, you get these great little treats. I flavored mine with cinnamon, cardamom, and lemon zest.
This was so fun! And they were so tasty, served piping hot with powdered sugar and home made strawberry-lemon jam. Yum!
