Pancake Balls Are the Cutest Weekend Breakfast—and This Pan Will Help You Make Them in Minutes

My breakfasts are kind of lame during the week. I usually opt for something healthy-ish and easy like scrambled eggs, overnight oats or avocado toast, so by the weekend I'm ready for a more indulgent, special breakfast. That's why I am going to start treating myself to pancake balls. 

My mom used to make pancake balls when I was a kid in this special pan, and I always loved them. Also called ebelskivers, aebelskivers or Danish pancakes, pancake balls are essentially fluffy golf ball-sized pancakes that are stuffed with any magical ingredients you can think of. 

When my mom made them she used boxed pancake mix. It probably goes without saying that's not the authentic way to cook them at all, but they were still delicious. They puffed up beautifully and were stuffed with berries, jam or a few chocolate chips (which would get melty and delicious inside of the warm pancakes).  

I'm not sure what made me think of these pancake balls recently, because I haven't had them in years, but I was so excited to see that Williams Sonoma sells an ebelskiver pan from Nordic Ware—and I just had to get one for myself. And I have a feeling that these cute little pancake balls will be my new go-to weekend breakfast.

I love that this ebelskiver pan is made of cast aluminum, so it heats evenly and quickly for perfectly puffy pancakes. Plus, it has a nonstick surface for easy release and cleanup (bonus: because it's nonstick, you don't need to use any extra butter).

Each pan has seven, 2 ¼-inch wells so you can customize each pancake with different fillings if you like. Regular pancake mix works fine (just thin it out a little), or to keep things simple and a little more authentic, you can pick up a box of Williams Sonoma's ebelskiver mix (buy it: $12.95, Williams Sonoma). For the fillings, you can go savory with cheese or opt for something sweet like fresh fruit, jam, nut butter or chocolate. No matter which flavor you choose, you can't go wrong with this weekend breakfast.