Main dish • Sweet
James’s Lefse
Director, Employee Experience
Lefse is a Norwegian traditional food from my mom’s side of the family. We would eat it rolled up with melted butter and brown sugar inside and it always felt like a warm hug kind of treat that we only had around the holidays. Lefse has simple ingredients but it takes experience and technique to make it well, so it’s the kind of thing that elders in the family pass on to the next generation by making it together. I now make lefse with my family and try to teach special family tips to my kids, though as hard as we try, my mom’s lefse is still the best!
Ingredients
- 10 pounds potatoes, peeled
- ½ cup butter
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
Step 1
Cover potatoes with water and cook until tender. Run hot potatoes through a potato ricer. Place into a large bowl. Beat butter, cream, salt and sugar into the hot riced potatoes. Let cool to room temperature.
Step 2
Stir flour into the potato mixture. Pull off pieces of the dough and form into walnut-sized balls. Lightly flour a pastry cloth and roll out lefse balls to ⅛-inch thickness.
Step 3
Cook on a hot griddle (400°F/200°C) until bubbles form and each side has browned. Place on a damp towel to cool slightly and then cover with damp towel until ready to serve.
Photos from James
