Krumkake or Krumkaga - Mom

I don't think there was a December that went by that my Dad didn't request we have these, but I can only remember them happening once.  As for my sisters, Allana remembers them a few times while Heather has vague shady thoughts of them but no real memory.  To be honest I don't think I'd remember them either if I hadn't helped make them one year.  I have to admit it is still a highlight of my childhood baking memories, taking turns with my Mom operating the cast-iron krumkage iron and wrapping each hot cookie waffle around the barrel of the turkey baster.  I used to chime in with my Dad in his campaign for krumkage partly because anything served with whipped cream rated highly in my books and partly because making them with Mom was such a vivid and enjoyable memory that I wanted to repeat it.  And the beautiful swirling pattern pressed into the cookie from the iron mesmerised me with its old world charm.

It is testimony to how much my Mom loves my Dad that she went out and bought a krumkake iron and tried to make them.  My Mom doesn't do anything if it can't be described as efficient and let's face it, baking cookies one at a time, one side at a time, on the stove top in a specialised waffle iron and then hand molding them into shape is the opposite of efficient.  Given that they were Christmas treats in our home and Mom was responsible for making Christmas happen - everything from decorations, to presents, to the big dinner, to cards for friends and family, to trips to the mall Santa, and to baking - well eventually something was going to have to give and krumkake had it's fate marked early.  It didn't stop Dad from asking.

Last summer I asked Mom if I could inherit the krumkake iron and I think the only thing I could do as a grown up to bring her more joy would be to give her a grandchild.  She said, if it turns out I don't want the iron I can give it away or to charity or the bin man.  Poor Mommy, I think her hatred of that iron and the baking process it represented grew exponentially every time she was asked to make them.  I, on the other hand, gleefully re-packed my suitcase three times to ensure that it would be fit for travel and not put my case over the airline weight limit, it's that heavy.

Once I got it back to London I had my krumkake iron fired up within a few days.  Now here's where my experience with the iron differed from Mom's.  I mixed up the batter and it was quite thick, I had to google to learn that it can be thinned down with water if need be, and after doing so still I had to dollop it onto the iron with a small ice cream scoop.  I remember Mom's batter being really thin and there's evidence of that in all the splatters on the recipe page of her minnesota viking cook book that I inherited along with the iron.  Mom also claims that the high butter content of the batter melted out during cooking, dripping down onto the burner, and sending great clouds of smoke through the house.  I remember the chaos of smoke-detectors and open windows in December while we were making them so she wasn't inventing problems to get out of making them.  I didn't skimp on the butter but I didn't have any issues with the butter melting, out at times I even had to brush the plates of the iron with a bit extra butter.  The only time I had any smoke problems is when crumbs of the batter would flick off the iron as I was peeling the cookie out and land on the burner - those crumbs went up in plumes of smoke and were charred in seconds.  It still took me quite a few attempts to get the technique right but I never had any of the neighbours concerned that I was burning down my flat, as evidenced by my stove once I finished.

Since my krumkake iron is old-fashioned cast iron, between uses I've been giving it a good wipe to get all the butter off then a quick smear with vegetable shortening and reheating to season the plates with a fat that won't turn rancid during its downtime - advice from my Gram LuVerne who is a font of tips and tricks, she's more clever than pinterest.


Krumkake

I cut the recipe by 1/3 because I had no desire to make 60 krumkake and it's the reduced quantity I've detailed here, times by three if you want a mountain of krumkake.

If you have an old krumkake iron, start to heat it on the stove on medium heat, it needs to heat for at least 40 minutes to get thoroughly hot.  If you have a newfangled electric one, follow the instructions that came with the machine.

Using an electric mixer beat until fluffy
1 egg
slowly add in and continue beating for another 5 minutes
1/3 cup of sugar

Add
1/3 cup melted butter - cooled
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
give it another good beating for 2 minutes

Fold in
1/2 cup flour

The batter should be fairly thick, now you get to leave it for about 20 - 25 minutes, it will mature and continue to thicken - which according to my google results is important but if it ends up too thick you can thin it down with a few spoonfuls of water.

Once the batter has rested and the iron is hot, put a small dollop of batter on the iron and close it quickly, give the handle a light squeeze to press the batter out thinly between the plate.  Cook for 30 seconds on the first side then 40 seconds on the second side, flip back to the level side and open.

Peel the cookie off the iron and roll onto a wooden cone (I don't have a wooden one so I fashioned mine out of the core from a kitchen paper roll wrapped in baking parchment) and leave to cool.  Repeat ad nauseum until you've used up all the batter, over all my tries I've gotten between 14 and 18 cookies, theoretically based on the math of the recipe you should be able to get 20, but I'm sure iron sizes vary.  If your iron starts looking a bit dry between cookies give it a quick brush with some butter.

Some were better than others, and some of the results were inedible (which made me popular with the ducks in the park) but I got there in the end.

I ate the first with whipped cream out of respect for tradition, then the rest with fruit, cut up bits of mango and clementine segments in an attempt to make them less unhealthy.  When I was talking with Allana about her memories of them she said she remembered them with cut up bananas so I thought I'd give that a try and what goes better with banana than Nutella!