Long, lost Christmas Eve recipe - Ferden

[The_Swedish_Chef]

Could you use an abelskiver pan for those treats? I don't need to buy ONE more "specialty pan". LOL

[marewk]

Yes, that will work great...I don't need another pan either!

[The_Swedish_Chef]

marewk wrote:
Yes, that will work great...I don't need another pan either!

Excellent news! I make aebleskiver's a couple of times per month so the pan is always at the ready. It will be fun to try something new with it.

[jules120]

I don't know if you are still around, but I found this thread and had to respond. My family is from the Schlesswig-Holstein area of Germany. They came to America in the mid 1850s. At any rate, our family has long guarded the old family recipe of Ferden, exactly as you spelled it. What a cool thing to know that someone else out there shares this family tradition.

[The_Swedish_Chef]

Queenkungfu wrote:
http://www.fehmarn-genealogy.com/newsletters/december_1999.htm

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cooking/msg1220595726605.html?6

Snatched from the first link:

A Christmas recipe Futtjen (or Ferden)


Soak 1 yeast cake in 1/2 cup lukewarm water until dissolved. (A yeast cake is hard to find, usually in refrigerated case) Otherwise, use a package of granulated yeast.
Scald 1 and 1/2 cups milk. Set aside after adding 2 tablespoons butter or oleo, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon (or less) cinnamon or cardamon. Beat 6 eggs together, add yeast and milk mixture and stir well. Add enough flour (about 3 and 3/4 cups) to make a soft sponging dough, easily dropped from a tablespoon, and about 3/4 cup raisins. Cover and set in a warm place for a couple of hours to let rise.
Put a small teaspoon of shortening in Ferden pan. (A cast iron skillet with seven round wells) Then drop batter in wells and fry, turning with a fork when ready and bake on other side until done. Roll in granulated sugar as soon as you remove them from the pan.
We serve them with rice prepared as follows. 1 and 1/4 cups raw rice. Start the rice slowly, on stovetop in a pan or double boiler, with small amount milk. Stir occasionally and heat and add milk as absorbed. Start the rice as the ferden starts to raise. You will need about 1 and 1/2 quarts of milk to cook the rice.
Serve the rice with a pitcher of milk and a side dish of a mixture of about a teaspoon of cinnamon and about a half cup of granulated sugar (as you like it) and serve as topping
for the rice.

We have always wondered if this a Fehmarn Island or country wide recipe in Germany. The Danish people call them Abelskiver or Ebelskiver. We have the ferden pan that belonged to Cal's parents. There is one just like it in the Putnam Museum, Davenport, Iowa.
Happy Holidays, Cal and Ruth Mildt

[Traditionsfromiowa]

I just sent you the recipe. My family was also from Schleswig-Holstein hope this helps!

[jules120]

How funny...I had an uncle who lived in Davenport for most of his life. What a small world! Thanks for responding!

[lovestocookinNOVA]

I know this is years later but I just happened across this thread. I have a Ferden's recipe. My family made this every New Years Eve. I hope the person looking for it finds it and I hope it's the same as you remember.

1 pkg yeast
1 tsp sugar
2 eggs
1/4 c sugar
3 c warm milk
1 tbl butter
1 tsp cardamon powder
1 tsp salt
grated rind of one lemon
4 1/2 c flour
2 cups raisins

Dissolve yeast tsp sugar in 1/8 c warm water. Beat 2 eggs with 1/4 c sugar, add warm milk, 1 tbl melted butter, cardamon powder, salt and lemon. Add flour and raisins. Let rise 2 1/2 to 3 hours in a warm place. Drop by spoonfuls into hot oil and fry until golden. Roll or dip in powdered or granulated sugar.

They are delicious.

[lovestocookinNOVA]

Hello...I see you too make Ferdens though your recipe is a bit different than mine. We made them as a treat on New Years Eve but it could have been very different years ago.

[lovestocookinNOVA]

Davenport...Hmm...do you know any Struve's? My family is from Davenport.

[Persian Berry 2011]

I believe this is the recipe you seek, recently shared with a You Tuber. My mother-in-law made them every Christmas Eve. I've only made them once but they turned out perfect. This recipe I was given by a girl at work and they tasted just like my mil's.

Dissolve 1 pkg yeast into 1/4 cup warm water. Add 4 eggs, beaten. Then it just gives the rest of the ingredients, add them all in, doesn't say specifically but it worked fine for me. I had a nice, large stoneware bread bowl, it broke; you will need large. Makes a soft, spongy batter. I let them rise in the oven heated slightly and turned off with a pan of warm water underneath.

1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup cream
3 cups milk
4-1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1 cup raisins, soaked (and presumably drained and/or added just before frying)

It says let rise 1-1/2 to 2 hours and fry in melted lard. We used Crisco, and there must have been a reason my mil did because she made all her pies with lard. It took quite a bit to keep them from sticking, about a good tablespoon plus in each little cavity. Cook over medium heat until it puffs up into a ball, you can peek with a fork by turning one a bit. It's easy to get them a little burned, especially the first batch; adjust temperature once you get them going. Fry on other side, they will pop right out but you need to refresh the Crisco for each successive batch. It makes a lot, 3 or 4 dozen at least. Drain on paper towels. Roll in granulated sugar or cinnamon and sugar. Everybody got their own little bowl of sugar.

I noticed on YTube they had a couple videos using that pan but they're called ebelskivers, Scandinavian. Those didn't have yeast for leavening but looked exactly the same. Then the Asians make a street treat in huge cast iron pans with many more cooking cavities the same size as these out of some kind of coconut batter poured just so. They didn't keep refilling the pockets with fat. Interesting.

I was just getting ready to get my pan out to see if it needs to be seasoned and try a couple things with it.

Hope this is like the kind you wanted. Sorry I didn't see all the other recent replies. Yup. Davenport. Many German immigrants settled here in the 1800's and have many descendants still living here.

[ramsj44]

Hi - I have a Ferden recipe if you are still looking.
The tradition in our family was Oyster stew, roast duck and Ferdens also.
This is interesting as we have not found people familiar with this either.
Merry Christmas!

[mschiller36]

I too am of German decent, originally from Davenport, IA and have a Ferden recipe We actually made a batch this afternoon, the first I have made on my own. It seems like they are all very similiar.

1 pkg yeast softened in 1/4 c. water
2 1/2 c. flour 1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. Salt 1 c. warm milk
3 eggs 2 oz. whisky or bourbon*
1tsp. vanilla 1 tsp. cardamon powder
1c. raisins

After yeast has foamed slightly (5 min), mix all the wet ingredients, then add the dry ingredients and raisins and stir until well incorporated. Allow to rise at least an hour. Stir down. Heat ferden pan to medium heat and melt 1 tsp. crisco in each cup. Fill cups almost full with ferten batter and turn 1/4 turns until brown and baked through. Roll in sugar while warm.

*The booze is compliments of my great-grandma Schwener; it helps cut the grease and is delicious!