Krumkake Recipe on Food52 (2024)

If you want to learn more about Christmas food traditions around the world, writer FiveandSpice reported on how important holiday cookies are around Norway: "Norwegian cookies are, like for many of us, essential during the holidays in Norway. But what makes a Norwegian cookie plate? Seven cookies, first of all, and a wide variety of cookies based on whatever traditions your family hold.

"When I was growing up, the only time of year we ever, ever had cookies was at Christmas.

"It made the weeks leading up to Christmas even more intensely special—the evenings spent standing next to my mother, referring to the notes scrawled in Norwegian in her tattered folio of treasured recipes, helping to weigh out flour and butter and sugar, mixing and rolling the cookies into their appropriate shapes.

"We never had a single sprinkle in our house or a bag of icing. All of our cookies were traditional Norwegian recipes: simple, rustic, and, for us, the very essence of Christmas. The lineup was usually pretty simple: nøttekaker (hazelnut cookies), krumkaker (cone-shaped cookies), sandbakkelse ('sand tarts'), and serinakaker."

This recipe for krumkaker results in a deliciously buttery crisp cookie. You do need a krumkake iron to make them and to get the best texture and thickness, which you can find online. And a wooden krumkake cone is usually included with the iron, but you can also choose to leave the cookies flat. If you opt for the cone shape, you can fill them up with cream and berries too. Happy holidays! —The Editors

Directions

1. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Fold in 8 tablespoons of the butter, the vanilla, and cardamom.
2. Add the flour and baking powder. Mix with a spatula until combined.
3. Plug in the krumkake iron to start heating it up. Brush the inside molds with some of the remaining melted butter. I've tried cooking spray, but it makes it kind of sticky. The butter is better for seasoning the iron.
4. When the iron is hot, add 1 heaping tablespoon of the batter to each mold in the iron and close.
5. Bake the krumkake in the iron for about 30 seconds, until golden and a little browned.
6. Open the iron and gently remove the krumkake from the iron. Careful, it's hot!
7. If you choose to keep them flat, put them flat on a wire rack. If you choose to make them cone shaped, a wooden krumkake cone is included in the krumkake iron box. Just take the hot krumkake straight from the iron, wrap it around the cone, and hold it for a few seconds. Let cool on the wire rack.
8. Some people add powdered sugar or fill them, but my family just serves them as is. They are delicious!