Lefse.

Posted By: Anna

One more Christmas post for me - and then we'll move on to...2013!  A little background on this one...my family is Norwegian, and very proud Norwegians at that.  (I can tell some mean Ole and Lena jokes!)  We eat lutefisk every Christmas Eve and have krumkake, rosettes and pizelles as cookies for after dinner.  But my favorite tradition of all is making lefse with my grandma and cousins on Christmas Eve morning.  I have been making lefse since I was in elementary school I think.  Grandma did almost all of the work that first year  and we just got flour all over the kitchen.  However, times have changed a bit and now we are in charge, and Grandma can relax a but while we roll out and grill lefse for about 3 hours Christmas Eve morning.  

For those of you that don't know what lefse is - according to Wikepedia (the always trusting source) - "Lefse is a traditional soft, Norweigian flatbread.  Lefse is made out of potato, milk or cream and flour, and cooked on a griddle"  It looks a lot like a very think large pancake or tortilla when it is all rolled out.  

Sadly, I forgot to take pictures on Christmas Eve morning (still blaming this on beginning blogging!) so some of the pictures below are actually of another lefse making event this year at the Northfield Retirement Center.  My grandma organizes a group, both family and friends from her church, to come and make lefse and krumkake for the residents of the retirement center.  We all whip out the lefse and serve it to them nice and hot with coffee. 

First you have to roll out the dough - the thinner the better!

Then grill the flatbread - 

Then comes the best part - the toppings.  I personally like butter with either brown sugar or cinnamon sugar.  Others like jelly or white sugar.  Its all up to you.  

Finally you roll it up and eat - yum!!

   

Truth be told, eating the lefse isn't even my favorite part of the process, its more about the tradition of spending time with some of my favorite people.  But isn't that what makes most traditions great?!  

Talk soon!

Anna