Good morning and God Jul (‘Merry Christmas’ in Norwegian). If you celebrate, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. This year my mom’s parents came to visit us and they are very Norwegian. To celebrate we decided to embrace our ancestral heritage even further and make a few classic Scandinavian treats. We made gluten free Krumkake, Ebelskivers, and Scandinavian Sticky Cake… don’t worry we left the lutefisk out of this holiday menu. There are various “dialects” for each of these Scandinavian specialties and we tend to focus on the, you guessed it, Norwegian version.
Let’s start with the Krumkake. We have a Krumkake iron which makes baking them easier, and it gives them a delicate and lacey design. Krumkake is a crisp waffle cookie made of eggs, butter, flour, sugar, and cream. To make them you simply scoop out two tablespoons of the batter into the iron and bake for about a minute or until your iron says they are ready. After it’s ready to be taken out you have to move quickly while they are warm and pliable to roll them into their cone shape before they cool and solidify. The cookies are fragile and a perfect canvas to add your favorite ‘fixings’ weather that be whipped cream and peppermint, chocolate, or just enjoying them plain.
Our Scandinavian cuisine tour continues onto our next stop which is Ebelskivers a Danish-style filled pancake that can be made sweet or savory. This time we made jelly filled Ebelskivers, but you can doctor them up with chocolate, lemon, herbs, cured meats, or cheeses and cover them in whatever sauce you like. I also like to eat them plain! Ebelskivers are light, airy, and offer cloud like bite. If filling them, I recommend a non-traditional method of using a piping tip to fill them once they are out of the pan. This will save your pan from any potential burnt sugar and save you when the time comes to clean up!
Our tour today concludes with Scandinavian sticky cake. Chocolate cake that perfectly integrates lava cake and brownies. You all know that we could not have gotten through the holidays without a chocolate dessert. This melt in your mouth dessert is a sure fire bet to convert even the most skeptical dessert conosiours (My anti-chocolate sister) into world class chocoholics. It was so easy to make and was ready within an hour, perfect to whip up at any get together, it serves roughly six to eight.
As our tour comes to a close I had to give a shout out to the Uffda Shop in Red Wing Minnesota for providing us a window into our heritage, as well as the different pans for the Ebelskivers and Scandinavian Sticky Cake. I sent my friend pictures of our treats and he asked, “What makes them Scandinavian?” I was thinking about this question for a while before responding. The easy answer would the geographical origin of the recipes, but that seemed too shallow. I think what really makes these treats Scandinavian, or any family recipe distinct to a region, is the people that embrace them and the loving connectivity that the recipes bring to a family table. Thank you for joining me for our Scandinavian family Christmas and I hope this New Year brings you all peace, love, joy, and good food!
Until next time,
Brynn💖
