Quick Aebleskiver (work in progress)

So, here we are again, waiting a year or a bit more to update. Are you surprised? No? Good.
My family has been making Aebleskiver since I was little. My kids love them, and ask me to fix them for breakfast much more often than I actually do.
What are Aebleskiver? They're also known as Danish Pancake Balls.
They're a bit of work to make in the traditional fashion, which is why I don't make them frequently. This has been driving me to find a faster way to make them. One thing that slows down the traditional method is the pan. It looks a bit like an egg poaching pan with deeper depressions. A good one is made of tempered cast iron and is heavy. They have to be in order to cook them evenly. That means it takes some time to heat them up properly. Then to cook them properly, you have to constantly turn them in the pan as one side is done. That's a bit of work.
Also, here in the U.S., you can't get a mix to make them. I've worked out mixes in the past, but that still means I have to set aside time and pantry space for them when they're fixed.
The first break in making them faster was when my mom got us a babycakes cake-pop maker. You've seen them. They're a bit like a waffle iron with little spheres in them. Cake-pop balls are about half the size of Aebleskiver, but that's not a significant issue. It's much easier to use the cake-pop maker than an Aebleskiver pan.
Today I decided to try to fix the mix issue. It's a work in progress, but I figured I would post what I've managed to work out, just so you know what to do with that old cake-pop maker that was collecting dust in your cabinets.
Edited 3/27/2016 (Easter Sunday): I changed the milk in the recipe to water. It has too much of a dairy flavor if you use milk. Also I recommend the use of unsalted butter. The pancake mix already has enough salt in it.
7/4/2017: Note: Experiments show this works well with the non-stick surface of a Babycakes Cake Pop Maker, but not as well with a traditional cast-iron pan. It sticks hard unless you heavily butter the cups, and even then it sticks moderately. I may add two tablespoons vegetable oil the next time I use cast-iron.
Here it is:

Quick Aebleskiver

1-1/2 Cups Pancake Mix (I used Krusteaz Buttermilk Complete Pancake Mix)
3 Tablespoons sugar
1/4 Teaspoon Cardamom or Cinnamon
1 Cup water
1 Large egg
4 Tablespoons melted unsalted butter, divided

Heat up the cake-pop maker. Mix together the water, egg, and 2 tablespoons of the melted butter. Add the pancake mix, sugar, and spices at once and mix until they are moistened and form a lumpy batter. Brush the cups of the cake-pop maker top and bottom with melted butter, and fill the bottom cups with batter nearly to the top (mine takes about a tablespoon of batter.) Close the cake-pop maker and allow to cook for about 4 minutes. They should have brown spots when properly cooked. Remove from pan with a wood skewer so as not to scratch the finish of the cake-pop maker. While still hot, split and serve with jam and whipped cream. Makes about 4 dozen.

Banana Bread Mix

Banana Bread

Folks-

My wife loves banana bread, especially mine. The problem I've had with making it consistently has been having buttermilk in the fridge at the same time that I have overripe bananas. In fact, buttermilk has been as issue for me for some time since I seldom can use it up before it spoils.

Technology has come up with a solution: dry buttermilk. You can get this at most well-stocked grocery stores in the baking isle near canned or dry milk. This recipe also calls for my vanilla sugar.

My recipe, given here, is a variation of the one in the Betty Crocker cookbook. It's so easy to work with that Zhenie, who is afraid to bake, often fixes it for breakfast. I first make a bunch of mixes of the dry ingredients and store them in ziplock bags. Then when we have the bananas for it, we break out a mix and we have banana bread! Here it is!

Mix:

1-1/4 cups sugar

2 Tbsp dry buttermilk

1 Teaspoon vanilla sugar

2-1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 Teaspoon baking powder

1 Teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Just measure out the dry ingredients into a large ziplock bag, label it, and store in a cool, dry place. Include the following on a piece of paper in the bag:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened

2 eggs

1-1/2 cups mashed overripe bananas

1/2 cup water

Banana bread mix

Place oven rack in lowest position and preheat to 350 degrees. Grease bottoms only of two small loaf pans or one large loaf pan. Combine butter, eggs, bananas, and water and mix until smooth. Stir in mix until well smooth and well blended. Pour into pans and bake 1 to  1-1/4 hours or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

"Just Like Starbucks" Vanilla Scones

Folks-
I've been experimenting with this recipe for a couple of weeks now since I first found it online until my kids firmly approve of the results. I now think that I can publish it without embarrassment. I found it online at 5forks.com, and one other place, but I like the 5forks version more. When I've made them, they come out a bit moister than the Vanilla Bean Mini Scones they sell at Starbucks. As you know by now, I like modifying the recipes I post here. I have made this one using both the Vanilla Extract called for in the recipe, as well as the Vanilla Sugar I taught you how to make in an earlier post. I prefer using the Vanilla Sugar in this recipe. Also, I have found that there is very little difference in flavor using salted butter instead of unsalted butter.
So, tested in Edly's kitchen, here is the 5forks version of the "Just Like Starbucks" Vanilla Scones (with my slight modifications, as usual):

Ingredients:
Scones:
2 Cups all purpose flour
2 Teaspoons baking powder
1/2 Teaspoon baking soda
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1/2 Cup sugar
5 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
1 Cup of full-fat sour cream
1 Large egg yolk
2 Teaspoons vanilla extract (or 2 Teaspoons vanilla sugar replacing 2 teaspoons regular sugar.)

Glaze:
1 1/2 Cups powdered sugar
1/4 Teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 Teaspoon salt
Milk as needed

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Whisk together dry ingredients. Using any method you prefer, cut the cold butter into the dry ingredients until the flour resembles coarse meal (I would recommend using a food processor if you have one, otherwise make sure the butter is cut into very small pieces.) In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream, egg yolk, and, if you are using it, the vanilla extract, until blended. Add just enough of the wet mixture to the flour-butter mixture for it to hold together and stir with a fork until the dough forms a cohesive ball. Use a spatula to get the dry bits fully integrated. (It may not seem like there is enough liquid at first, but the dough will eventually come together.) Split the dough into two equally sized balls and pat them into disks about 1 inch in height, and cut each disk into 8 equal triangular pieces. Place the pieces onto ungreased baking sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown on top. While the scones are baking, prepare the glaze by putting the sugar into a separate bowl, then adding the vanilla extract and milk one teaspoon at a time while stirring with a fork. Once the glaze has become slightly runny, it is ready. When the scones are done, take them out of the oven and immediately spread the glaze over them using a pastry brush. This will give the glaze a more even and shinier coating than just drizzling.