Back
to my roots. My mother's father came over from Norway to Canada in
1913. He was the first of three brothers that traveled over for work.
Luckily they stayed in touch with the rest of the family back in the
homeland, and we've been blessed to stay in touch with uncles, aunts and
many cousins over the years. My mother and her siblings have held true
to their Norwegian roots and have many traditional recipes to show for
it. One in particular that I love are Norwegian Waffles. My Aunt Alice
provided this recipe for our "Strand Family Cookbook" that I complied
in 2007 for Mom's 70th birthday celebration. And when everyone came to
Texas that Spring, Aunt Alice brought her waffle iron. It was my first
exposure and I've been hooked ever since. As a matter of fact, Mom and
Aunt Meme went out and bought two waffle irons identical to Alice's. We
have a great waffle iron, but this particular one makes these waffles
especially good. And proper.
Last
weekend (Labor Day) I decided we were long overdue, so I assembled all
the ingredients and got busy. There is some time involved in making
these, but they are so worth it.
Norwegian Waffles
Alice Vivian
5 eggs
½ C. sugar
1 C. flour, sifted
1 t. ground cardamom
1 C. sour cream
4 T. unsalted butter, melted
Beat the sugar and eggs
together for 5 to 10 minutes. Alternately fold in half the flour, cardamom, and
the sour cream, then the remaining flour. Lightly stir in the melted butter and
set the batter aside for ten minutes.
Cook according to directions
for the waffle maker. Serve with Lingonberries.
Go for the 10. 10 minutes of beating,
and once everything is incorporated, 10 minutes of resting. This
becomes a beautiful, fluffy batter. Lingonberry jam is a favorite, along
with sour cream. Another item Aunt Alice introduced when she first made
the waffles for us is Ski Queen cheese, which is also wonderful with
these waffles. You can definitely treat these more traditionally with
butter and syrup, but please try one without anything first. The texture
is so creamy, and the taste of the cardamom (sometimes also spelled
"cardamon") gives it such a warmth. Cardamon is a Himalayan spice,
relative to Ginger, but don't think of it as "bitey" as ginger, more
warmth like cinnamon or nutmeg.
On
this particular day, I didn't have any Ski Queen cheese, but I did have
Laughing Cow Lite Creamy Swiss wedges, and it worked great with the
Lingonberries. Experiment...but stay close to your roots.
Happy eating!
