Norwegian Waffles

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!