The holiday season has officially begun…about two weeks ago. Nevertheless, Christmas and the rest of the holiday season are about the delicious foods that seem to be never ending and spending time with family.
Everyone has food traditions that they uphold, so I’ll be letting you in on some Lanenberg/Dessellier family “secret” recipes as well as some random foods and snacks that are perfect for this time of year!
Every year my grandma Shirley makes lefse, krumkake and flatbread, all traditional Norwegian delicacies. The recipe my grandma uses was handed down to her from her mom, my great grandmother (a delicious family secret). So instead, I found a lefse recipe online that is as close to traditional as you could possibly get.
Ingredients
- 10 pounds of potatoes, peeled
- ½ cup butter
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
Directions
- 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.
- 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 the lefse ball into 1/8-inch thickness.
- At 400 degrees, cook the flattened lefse on a hot griddle until bubbles form and each side has browned. Place on a damp towel to cool slightly and then cover with another damp towel until they’re ready to serve.
Maraschino Cherry Shortbread Cookies
This is a new recipe for my family. I found it on Pinterest and had my mom add it to our holiday baking list. This recipe is super simple and it looks very festive with the pop of color from the cherries and chocolate chips.
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter – room temperature
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ½ tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cups maraschino cherries – chopped (dried maraschino cherries work too)
- ⅔ cup chocolate chips
Directions
- Mix flour and salt, set aside.
- Cream the softened butter with the powdered sugar. Mix in vanilla.
- Add the flour and salt mixture and mix until it starts forming larger clumps.
- Mix in chocolate chips and maraschino cherries.
- Form the dough into a log and press it well or it will crumble when you slice the cookies (the log should be about two inches thick). Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 1-2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Cut the log into ¼- or ⅓-inch-thick slices (if the slices crumbles, press it back together with your hands) and place them onto baking sheet with one inch of space between.
- Bake the cookies 10– 15 minutes (until they just start to turn lightly golden brown on top).
- Let them cool for five minutes on a baking sheet before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.
Caramel Corn
This recipe comes from my dear grandma Penny. She has so many recipes it was hard to choose which one I wanted to use in this article, so I decided to go with everyone’s favorite, caramel corn.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups un-popped corn (pop it)
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 2 sticks margarine (NOT butter)
- ½ cup light Karo corn syrup
Directions
- Put popped corn in a large container.
- Combine brown sugar, margarine, and Karo syrup in sauce pan.
- Bring to a boil. Boil for five minutes, stirring occasionally
- Remove from heat and add ½ tsp. baking soda and 1 tsp. vanilla. Stir to blend (it gets weird, but that’s okay).
- Pour a little over popped corn; stir. Continue until all caramel is used.
- Bake in oven at 250 degrees for one hour. Stir occasionally (about every 15 minutes).
- Optional: Add peanuts
“You will be a hit! Trust me! Great at parties!” – Grandma Penny