Left: Lisa Hovis and her grandmother peel potatoes in preparation for Thanksgiving. Right: Lisa’s krumkake was next to a heating pad with her grandmother’s krum kage (krumkake) recipe on it.
Lisa Hovis / NPR’s Collage
hide captions
switch captions
Lisa Hovis / NPR’s Collage
Left: Lisa Hovis and her grandmother peel potatoes in preparation for Thanksgiving. Right: Lisa’s krumkake was next to a heating pad with her grandmother’s krum kage (krumkake) recipe on it.
Lisa Hovis / NPR’s Collage
All Things We’re Cooking is a series of family recipes created by you, our readers and listeners, and the special stories behind them. We’ll continue to share more of your kitchen treasures throughout the holiday season.
Most cookies are baked in the oven, but krumkake is not most cookies. Instead of an oven, bakers often use a krumkake iron over an open flame to make these traditional Norwegian butter cookies.
Lisa Hovis has been making krumkake since she was a young girl with her grandmother Hovis. Every Christmas, Hovis’ family would drive 16 miles from DeKalb, Ill., to Rochelle, Ill., where she and her mother would join Hovis’ grandmother in the kitchen.
The rest of the family would hang out in a nearby room, where they could smell the sweets as they waited to bite into the crackers, which Mrs. Hovis calls krum kage. In the kitchen, batters quickly come together.
“It’s basically sugar and eggs, and then you take the whipped cream, unwhipped it, and beat it thoroughly. You add the flour, vanilla, and a little salt,” says Hovis. “And after you’ve mixed it all up, you take about a tablespoon… then you pour the tablespoon over and the iron closes for about 30 seconds or so and then you flip it.”
After flipping, bake the other side for about 30 seconds. At this point, a knife or fork would be helpful to help you get the fragile cookie out of the iron before wrapping it around the dowel to form a cylinder.
Just like pancakes, the first few cookies are trial products, best eaten as a snack made by the baker himself. Remember to grease the iron between each cookie, says Hovis, and keep the dough thin enough to spread out easily when pouring.
A purist when it comes to krumkake, Hovis said she doesn’t need to add anything to cookies to enjoy them, but it’s not uncommon for people to stuff cream or fruit into cookies.
Hovis’ grandmother died when she was 13, but the krumkake tradition did not end after that. Today, Hovis makes cookies for her friends and family using the same iron her grandmother has used, since at least 1913.
“When I did it today, it was like you were transported back to that memory, and even though she was no longer with me, her recipe kept her alive,” Hovis said.
This Christmas, Hovis is going to her aunt’s house in Tucson, Ariz., where she plans to make krumkake with her two nieces and nephews.
“I’ll be able to share that with them, tell them their great-grandmother’s story,” Hovis said. “And hopefully they’ll be interested in continuing that … so the formula and tradition can continue.”
Krum Kage (Krumkake)
Recipe posted by Lisa Hovis
Ames, Iowa
Element
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup heavy whipped cream
- 1 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- A little bit of salt
Direction
Whisk together the sugar and eggs.
Add half of the cream to the sugar and egg mixture and mix well.
Mix the flour and beat until very smooth, then add the rest of the ingredients.
Pour over very hot iron and press until brown.
Remove and immediately roll onto a stick until cool. Interesting!
