Holidailies 4: Lefse 101

I’ve decided that i’m only going to rely on the Holidailies‘ writing prompt if I have no other holiday related ideas to talk about.  Today I’m in a particularly Christmas’y mood, so I don’t really need it.

W and I went grocery shopping last night.  As I was grabbing the eggnog that I’d been craving for my coffee all week, I also grabbed a package of lefse.  I crave that stuff year round.  Lefse has always been my favorite holiday treat.  And it was such a huge and important part of my family.  I’ve been looking for the last few hours now to try to find a class on how to make it, but I’m coming up short thus far.  I think I’ll be calling the Sons of Norway tomorrow to see if they can point me in the right direction.

What is lefse?  Oh, my.  It’s heaven on a griddle.  It’s thin, potato based Norwegian flatbread, though I personally tend to compare it more to a tortilla.  A potato based tortilla rolled out paper thin.

I know my descriptions aren’t so great, so I thought I’d give you a little photo based Lefse 101~!

lefse n. A round flatbread of Norwegian origin, traditionally made of a potato- based dough and baked on a griddle

Real homemade lefse cannot be replaced. However, of the lefse that I have purchased in stores, this is the closest to real. It’s still a bit sticky for my taste, but it’s delicious, none the less.

Step One: If it isn’t fresh off the griddle, warm lefse up slightly in the microwave (10-20 seconds).  Smear it with a thick layer of margarine.  Margarine is the preferred spread in my family.  Butter is always too hard and doesn’t spread easily, which has a tendency to tear the very thin lefse.  My grandmother was the queen of paper thin lefse.

Step Two:  Sprinkle liberally with brown sugar.  Every family has a topping preference, just like the butter/margarine war.  Some like cinnamon and sugar.  Some like lingenberries.  Some like just plain buter.  My grandfather was a fan of putting turkey, potatoes, gravy, and cranberries on his and making a “Norwegian Burrito:.  I’m pretty easy and just like plain ol’ brown sugar.

Step Three:  Roll and DEVOUR!  I don’t have any special rolling technique.  Some people like the fold the end over and roll thing, but I’m just gonna shove the damn thing in my mouth, as quickly as possible, so I don’t bother with the fancy stuff.