If you aren’t Norwegian – or know someone who is – you may have never heard of lefse, but if you have, you know that this is a tasty treat that goes with both sweet and savory.

Lefse can best be described as a Norwegian flat bread, not unlike tortillas. It is often made with potatoes, but not always.

There are only two warnings… it takes all day long to make it, and it usually disappears quickly (especially if there are any Norwegians hanging around) but if you hide it in time it does freeze well.

Without further ado… a small collection of lefse recipes for you to choose from.

Potato-Free Lefse

• 1.5 quarts sour cream (3 lbs.) (4 cups =1 qt)
• 2 quarts buttermilk
• 1 lb. butter
• 4 tsp. baking soda
• 2.5 cups sugar
• 6 whole eggs
• 6 egg yolks
• 3 tsp. salt
• 15 lbs flour – 10 lbs for dough, 5 lbs for rolling

Melt butter while mixing wet ingredients except eggs. Mix some flour with the butter to keep it from curdling.

Combine the salt, soda and sugar and beat into the eggs.

Mix everything together.

Take a piece of dough and roll it out on a floured surface into a large circle that will fit onto your griddle, rolling it as thin as possible. Bake on a griddle over medium heat until light brown, turning frequently to prevent scorching. Stack them between clean cloths to keep them from drying out.

*Courtesy of Lee Oswald

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Potato Lefse

• 5 large potatoes
• 1/2 cup sweet cream
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3 Tbsp. butter
• flour to roll thin

Boil potatoes and mash very fine (a ricer works well) and add cream, butter and salt. Beat until light and let cool. Add flour. Take a piece of dough and roll out into a circle like pie crust, making sure to roll it as thinly as possible. Bake on a griddle until light brown, turning frequently to prevent scorching. When baked, place between clean cloths to keep them from drying out.

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Krina Lefse

Step one:

• 3 large sifters of flour (about 5 cups in each sifter)
• 1 cup melted shortening
• 4 cups fine graham flour

Combine the above ingredients with lukewarm water, adding just enough so dough can be rolled out farily thin. Roll out as for other lefse, but bake on one side only until a very light brown. This makes a large quantity – about 36 large round lefse.

Step two:

When lefse are all baked, prepare the following mixture.

• 1 cup dark syrup
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 Tbsp. melted butter
• 2 egg whites
• flour to make a fairly thick batter

Beat eggs & combine with the other ingredients. Spread over each lefse with a spatula. Spread lefse one at a time and bake in a hot oven for a few minutes, just enough to brown slightly around the edges. Bake on one side only.

Pile lefse with coated sides together, and put a weight on top of them until they are cold. Then remove the weight and sprinkle a little water over lefse to keep them from breaking.

Put them away – keeping coated sides apart to prevent sticking.

These lefse will keep indefinitely if kept in a dry place.

When ready to use, hold each lefse under cold water, letting water fun over both sides, then place between clean cloths until soft enough to use. They may have to be soaked twice. When soft, spread with butter, sugar and cinnamon. Put 2 lefse together and cut wedge shaped like a pie.

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Swedish Flat Bread

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sweet milk
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1.5 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 4 cups flour
• 3/4 cup flour for rolling

Cream the butter and sugar together. Combine dry ingredients, making sure to break up any chunks in the baking powder and soda. Beat the eggs into the milk. Combine everything together to form a dough ball.

Roll small pieces of dough very thinly into circles. Bake quickly on a griddle over medium-high heat.

*our friend John’s Grandma’s recipe

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As you can see, there are many variations to the basic recipe, but they are all wonderful. Our favorite ways to eat them around here are with butter, cinnamon and sugar, or with lingonberry jam. They also pair well with savory dishes as a bread to sop up juices.

I haven’t tried to make a healthier version yet, but I would think that you could use coconut oil in place of the shortening or butter in these – if you got the version that tastes like coconut it would be unexpected, but very good. You should also be able to replace the cream or buttermilk with coconut cream or kefir. If you use a recipe that doesn’t use eggs, it would be very easy to make it vegan.

Each recipe makes a goodly sized batch, so wrap some of it in plastic wrap and freeze it. Just take it out and set it on the counter to thaw. You can also refrigerate it to keep it longer. I find though that if I don’t freeze some right away, it tends to get put away into bellies rather quickly.

Enjoy!