Lefse and Grandmas Christmas Cookies

  

Hello, everyone! 

My name is Colin, and this year I took the plunge and started a semester abroad in Volda, Norway. As a media student, I deal with the sender, the medium and the receiver and have to learn about many different media. This blog shows you how to use my recipes (sender) and your stove (medium) to make food that will make your taste buds (receiver) explode. 

This semester, I am currently taking the module ‘Norwegian Food Culture’, in which I am gaining practical experience in Norwegian cuisine. In the third practical exercise, we dealt with baking und preserving flour.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 20% of food is thrown away every year because it spoils. (Brown, 2019, p. 540) You and I are going to combat this today by showing you how to preserve flour by turning them into lefse. Besides that, I will also share with you my favourite christmas cookie recipes by my grandma. Let's get started! 

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Lefse

Lefse
Photo: Colin Holthaus

Ingredients (for 6 lefse): 

300ml         cultured milk

300ml         whole milk

750g           wheat flour

200g           Butter Cream as topping

pinch of salt 

Directions (from 

(0. Keep the ingredients at room temperature before mixing, because it is easier to work with.)

1. Mix flour, culutured and whole milk and salt together in a bowl until fully combined. The dough should be soft and slightly wet.

2. Divide the dough into pieces of 100 grams. Place the pieces on floured paper or a tray and sprinkle more flour over them. Cover with plastic and leave them for half an hour. 

3. Roll them out on a floured surface to the size of your baking device.

4. Bake on both sides until golden brown. 

5. Butter and fold the lefse. 

(Ryslett, 2025)

Colin's fun fact: 

Back in the time of the vikings, lefse were prepared for feasts and on the particular day sprinkled with water to make them soft again. Nowadays any small bakeries deliver the dried ones in cartons or the soft kind in plastic bags. (Notaker, 2009, p. 50)

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Classic Christmas Cookies

Classic Christmas Cookies
Photo: Colin Holthaus

Ingredients (for around 40 cookies): 

300g           Wheatflour

200g           Butter

1                 Egg

Directions 

1. Mix wheatflour, Butter and the egg until fully combined

2. Wrap the dough in plastic foil and leave it in the fridge for 1 hour.

3. After 1 hour roll the dough on the surface to approximately 3-4mm thickness.

4. Form your raw cookies with forms and put them into the oven (10min at 180'C)

Tipp: To remember this recipe anywhere at any time, just remember: 3, 2, 1. Stand for 300g flour, 200g butter and 1 egg.

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Oatcookies

Oatcookies
Photo: Colin Holthaus

Ingredients (for around 40 cookies): 

120g

Sugar

100g

Butter

1Pck.

Vanillinsugar 

1

Ei (Gr. M)

180g

zarte Haferflocken

75g

Weizenmehl (Type 405)

1Pck.

Backpulver

½TL

Zimt

1Prise

Salz

Directions 

1. Mix the sugar, butter and vanilla sugar in a large bowl until smooth and the sugar has dissolved. Stir in the egg. In a separate bowl, mix the oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt, then stir into the butter and egg mixture.

2. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees top/bottom heat (fan oven: 170 degrees). Line a baking tray with baking paper. Use a teaspoon to scoop out small portions of the dough and shape them into balls with your hands.

3. Place the oat cookies on the prepared baking tray, leaving a little space between them, and flatten them slightly. Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for approx. 10 minutes. Then leave them to cool completely, as they are still very soft when hot. The Swedish oat cookies will keep for at least 3 weeks in an airtight container at room temperature.

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We are done for this blog! Feel free to try all the recipes and make yourself a great time by doing so. I learned a lot about norwegian food culture by making lefse on my own and added new knowledge to my recipe brain :) 

And just as every time: In Germany, we say ‘Mahlzeit’ and ‘Bis zum nächsten Mal!’ (Enjoy your meal and see you next time!)

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Sources: 

Notaker, Henry. Food Culture in Scandinavia. Greenwood press, 2009. Food Culture around the World. BnF ISBN.

Ryslett, K. (2025). Norwegian Food Culture [Baking Day at Volda University College ERAMAK 101.pdf]. Canvas. https://hivolda.instructure.com/courses/8376/modules