Lefse & Pepperkaker
Hei Hei!! 🫐🌿
This is Lily and I hope you are doing great.
My third blog is going to be all about baking. It's almost Christmas season this year and I am already looking forward to its cozy and amazing atmosphere.
I took this opportunity, and I decided to make two products for this time:
- Lefse or Kling (a soft and sweet Norwegian flatbread)
- Pepperkaker (traditional Norwegian ginger cookies)
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Christmas Baking in Norway:
Norwegian Christmas food is rich, comforting and deeply traditional.
"For many people Christmas still means making gingersnaps, doughnuts, cones and several other types of cakes and cookies." (Goldstein & Merkle, 2005)
・・・Lefse : a soft and sweet flatbread
- It's commonly eaten around Christmas season, especially in western/central Norway.
- Lefse was for special occasion because wheat, potato and butter were valuable, and it is a custom to bake lefse in the family. In fact, often every family has their own recipe. (Fjord Norge AS / Fjord Norway, 2020)
・・・Pepperkaker : thin, crisp and spiced Norwegian gingerbread cookies
- It is likely to arrived in Norway around the 15th century, with approximately same time when spices are arrived through European trade. At that time, spices are too expensive to be used in daily coking, so it was a special treat for celebrations. (Berg, 2016)
- By the 19th century, Pepperkaker became strongly connected with Christmas tradition in Norway. Families would bake them together in December and use the cookies as decorations. (Gandara, 2015)
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Lefse (kling) / a soft and sweet Norwegian flatbread
*Recipes are inspired by Berta Ølnes Finnes
Ingredients and Equipments that need to be ready:
Ingredients
★dough (you can also calculate and create as many as you need. I am afraid that I can not say for sure how many, but this amount is for a fairly large group)
- 250g butter
- 1L of whole milk
- 1 cup of semolia
- wheat flour (amounts depends on how soft the dough is)
Equipments
- Stand mixer ×1
- Rolling pin ×1
- Baking mat (preferably cloth or silicone) ×1
- Bowl ×1
- Whisk ×1
- Brush ×1
- Wooden stick ×
- Crepe maker ×1
- Clean cloth × number depends on how many lefse are baked
- Spray bottle ×1
- Plastic bag ×1
Procedures:
Before starting: Clean your hands & Wear Aprons
0. Turn on crepe maker and leave it to hot
1. Mix flour, butter and semolina by stand mixer
2. Add milk afterwards and flour until the dough is smooth enough
3. Divide the dough into pieces
4. Prepare baking mat, and roll out with rolling pin (use flour underneath to smoothen dough)
5. After rolling out into thin piece, use wooden stick carefully to place on crepe maker
6. Bake ONE SIDE ONLY on crepe maker
7. Mix eggs and milk
8. Once slightly baked, brush the egg mixture on the side it baked
9. Bake other side again until the egg mixture dried and lefse turned into golden-brown
10. Pile up the baked lefse by placing 1 cloth between each lefse and moist by spray bottle
11. After lefse gets soften, fold and pack them in plastic bag and freeze it (if needed)
Pepperkaker / traditional Norwegian ginger cookies
*Recipes are inspired by ' DKP'S LIFE IN NORWAY ' from YOUTUBE
Ingredients and Equipments that need to be ready:
Ingredients
- 225g butter
- 200g sugar
- 300g flour
- 60ml molasses/dark syrup
- 2 teaspoons of ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
Equipment
- Hand mixer ×1
- Bowl ×1
- Rolling pin ×1
- Baking sheet
- Plastic foil
- Cookie cutter ×as many shapes as you want
- Wire rack (if you have)
Procedures:
Before starting: Clean your hands & Wear Aprons
1. In a bowl, mix butter and sugar until it gets smooth
2. Add molasses and stir more
3. Add spices and baking soda, also add flour gradually
4. Rest the dough in refrigerator by wrap in plastic foil for an overnight
5. Preheat oven to 180 celsius degrees by lining baking sheet
6. Roll out the dough on floured surface with rolling pin, about 1/4-inch thick
- use little amount of flour prevents sticking and tearing
7. Cut into shapes using cookie cutters
8. Bake for 8-10 minutes on the baking sheet, until edges are lightly brown
9. Let it cool down on a wire rack
Evaluation of my products
I was very excited to be able to try at making Norwegian Christmas bakings.
Lefsa is a sweet I'd never tried before, and I was happy to have the opportunity to experience making it in a traditional Norwegian home, and to get a glimpse into Norwegian Christmas and food culture. I didn't realise it would take so long based on the lecture beforehand, but I'm very grateful to have had the opportunity to make my own original lefsa from scratch.
Also, as for pepperkaker, I was able to make gingerbread cookies, which I've loved since childhood, along with a traditional Norwegian cookie recipe before Christmas, which allowed me to feel the arrival of Christmas early. As long as I carefully check the ingredients and steps, the cookie-making recipe isn't that complicated, and it's easy to adjust the flavour (spices, etc.) to suit my own taste, so I think it would have been nice if I try another Christmas treat that is commonly eaten in Norway.
Evaluation of my working processes
The school provided us with a clean environment with all the necessary facilities and tools, which allowed us to concentrate on our work. Due to scheduling, I split the project into two days, but I made thorough preparations in advance to ensure each day went as planned. I checked in advance whether the necessary ingredients and equipment were available, and used substitutes for what was not available, or adjusted the recipes to suit my own production process. Occasionally, there were points in the oral lecture that I didn't understand, or parts of the paper recipes that were handed out that were a little vague, but with the help of the lectures I had experienced beforehand and my classmates around me, my anxieties gradually cleared up.
Since this was my third blog post, I no longer felt that it was that difficult to prepare everything from scratch and complete it successfully. This time, I cooked it over two days because it takes time to store in the refrigerator, but from now on, I would like to complete the cooking in one day so that I can respond at any time if any problems arise.
Bibliography
- Ryslett, Førstelektor, Oral lecture, November 8th, 2025
- Berta Ølnes Finnes
- YouTube. (2024). How to make pepperkaker – Norwegian gingerbread cookies [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5GjAL9_nfw
- Goldstein, D., & Merkle, K. (Eds.). (2005). Culinary cultures of Europe: Identity, diversity and dialogue. Council of Europe Publishing.
- Fjord Norge AS / Fjord Norway. (2020). Have yourself a tasty Fjord Norwegian Christmas! Mynewsdesk. https://www.mynewsdesk.com/com/fjord-norway/pressreleases/have-yourself-a-tasty-fjord-norwegian-christmas-3054499
- Berg, N. (2016). Old Fashioned Pepperkaker (Norwegian Gingerbread Cookies). North Wild Kitchen. https://northwildkitchen.com/old-fashioned-pepperkaker/
- Gandara, S. (2015). And finally, add two pounds of pepper…. Arctic Grub. https://arcticgrub.com/and-finally-add-two-pounds-of-pepper/
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