Krumkake or Skrullers? 52 Ancestors 2023 Prompt “Family Recipe”

 

My Favorite Norwegian Christmas Cookie

 

I grew up in an area of southern Minnesota that was settled by Norwegian immigrants. My ancestors were among those immigrants. Their descendants liked to celebrate their Norwegian heritage with food, especially at Christmas. They would dig out the old family recipes and would cook and bake wonderful Norwegian foods like sot suppe (sweet soup), rommegrot (cream porridge), rommebrod (cream bread), kringlar, lutefisk, rosettes, and of course lefse. My favorite among these treats was a thin, rolled cookie similar to Italian pizzelles. Most Norwegians call them krumkake (translates roughly as “curved cookie”), but many people in my small town called them skrulle or skrullers (translates to “scroll”).

So far I’ve been too lazy to learn how to make lefse, but twenty years ago, I bought a krumkake iron and learned how to make skrullers. I wanted my children to be exposed to at least one Norwegian treat—to celebrate that part of their heritage at Christmas. Skrullers or krumkake have become a staple in my annual Christmas cookie baking binge.

Krumkake tools: electrice Krumkake Iron, spatula and wooden dowel roller

So krumkake vs. skruller? It appears to be a regional difference—a certain area of Norway called them skrulle, probably because they resemble scrolls when they are rolled into a cone shape. I found a Norwegian webpage titled “Fant 16 synonym til krumkake”, which I believe means “16 synonyms for krumkake”. “Skrull” is number 3.

Batter on the krumkake iron

Here’s the recipe I use for my skrulle/skrullers/krumkake:

Ingredients:

4 eggs

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

½ cup butter, melted

2 tblsp corn starch

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp cardamom OR 1 tsp almond extract

Beat eggs and sugar—don’t overbeat. Add cooled, melted butter, vanilla, and cardamom and mix in. Sift flour and corn starch and add to egg mixture. Batter will have a dough-like consistency. Spoon batter onto the heated, greased krumkake iron. It is best to place batter a little toward the back of the iron as it will be squeezed forward when iron is closed. Press iron tightly closed and cook till krumkake are lightly browned.

Rolling the Krumkake

Use a spatula to lift off krumkake one at a time and wrap around wooden spindle and shape into a cone. Sprinkle finished krumkake with powdered sugar. Makes about 50 krumkake.

Ingredients and finished krumkake, ready to sprinkle with powdered sugar

The finished cookies are light and crispy with just the perfect amount of sweetness. Some people like to fill them with whipped cream, but I like them just as they are.

I think of my grandmother whenever I make these cookies—Regina Syverson Peterson died before I was born, but she taught her daughters to make lefse and krumkake, and I feel connected to that tradition when I make them. 

Grandma Regina, wedding photo

Happy holidays! Or as they say in Norway, God Jul!