The first time I ever asked Cory what his favorite food was, he told me it was Lefse. Yes, Lefse. I had never heard of it in my life! I asked him what Lefse is and he told me it is like tortillas but they are made out of mashed potatoes. In doing a little research on it, I found out that Lefse is a Norwegian recipe for soft flatbread. Potato is not a traditional ingredient, but is often added to make Lefse dough that is thicker and easier to work with, and having grown up partially in Idaho I'm not surprised at the use of potatoes
Where did this recipe come from? His family of course! It is a holiday tradition for them and Cory says they have been making it for as long as he can remember. Cory’s grandma Betty, his mom Linda, and his aunts spend all day in the kitchen and welcome the Thanksgiving holiday with plenty of Lefse to go around. Nothing brightens his day more than coming home to find they've shipped him some! So, obviously, when Linda was visiting we just had to force her slave away and show us the recipe.
There are many different ways you can eat it, but almost all of the family members prefer it the same way: heated in the microwave and rolled up with butter. And, what with my carb addiction, I can't complain! It's delicious.
Ingredients
Lefse, Knopes Family Recipe
Yields around 30
3 Potatoes
2 Tablespoons Salted Butter
¼ Cup 2% or Whole Milk
Flour, lots
Salt
Equipment
Rolling Pin
Wax Paper
Spatula
Griddle or Lefse Griddle
Peel the potatoes with and make sure no skin is left on them. Cut the potatoes into eighths and boil them until they are soft enough to mash. Drain the potatoes and then mash them with the butter, milk and salt. Make it as smooth as possible. If there are lumps that refuse to be mashed, pick them out.
One of the main keys to this recipe is that the mashed potatoes are silky smooth! Let the mashed potatoes cool completely. Mix in 2 Cups of flour until there is no stickiness to the potatoes. Add more flour if needed. Do not be scared to add as much flour as you need.
Using wax paper, form the dough into long, cookie dough shaped logs. This amount of dough should make 3 logs and each should be about a foot long. Put them on a cookie sheet and let them cool and form in the fridge for at least an hour. This will make them easier to cut later.
Turn your griddle on as high as it goes. THIS IS A DRY FRY PROCESS. Do not use any spray.
Fill a bowl with flour. Slice the logs of dough into one-inch slices. Take each slice and pat it out between your hands. Next, place the flattened dough onto a generously floured counter and roll it out with a rolling pin until thin (not too thin, just thin enough to be able to pick it up). Make sure there are no holes in the dough. Make sure the dough is not doughy. If it looks too doughy, remix it in your hands with more flour.
Now, fold the dough in half like a taco and put it on the griddle. You can cook two or three on a regular griddle at a time depending on your size. The Lefse should cook for about three minutes on each side or until light brown, but not burned. You can keep rolling out your Lefse and stack it in a pile while the others are cooking.
Make sure to keep the finished Lefse in an airtight container or in a plastic Ziploc bag. Before eating, make sure to warm it up in the microwave for 10 to 15 seconds. Some people eat them with butter only, butter and cinnamon sugar, jam, or roll it up with meat. Whatever you choose I’m sure you’ll enjoy this simple yet delicious treat.
Ever since I was a little girl my dream job was to be a stay at home mom. I set my sights high! In my daydreams I would make breakfast for my kids, do laundry, garden, read during the kiddles naptime, lounge in comfy clothes (read: wear sweats 24/7), maybe work out (read: maybe), and have a delicious dinner on the table for my husband when he comes home from work. Like that could ever happen now! I have come to terms with the fact that I may not get to be a stay at home mom (dang you, economy!) but I can still be a great little Susie Homemaker.
I love being crafty, making food from scratch, and getting my hands dirty in the yard. I like stitching personalized kitchen towels and baking cookies just because. I would say I am pretty dang good at the modified and working version of a housewife (minus the being married part...) (Wooowww... - Cory). To further my education in being a hands on and homey kind of lady, last year I was introduced to jamming!
I know, jamming and canning can seem scary. There is so much equipment and it can seem like such a process. Not to mention the scariness of waiting for your cans to make the pop so that you know it is sealed.
I was introduced to jamming by my second mom, Cindy, the Walter White of the jam world. She is my best friends’ mom and one of the women I look up to the most. She learned many years ago and wanted to teach me how, so I agreed. I spent a lovely Sunday morning at her home jamming away. She taught me all the secrets she knew and we made some delicious jam. Last year we made strawberry jam and blackberry jam. Since then, I experimented on my own (thanks to the college graduation gift she gave me, which was a full canning kit!) and made some delicious apple butter that I gave as gifts at Christmas. This summer, just a few weeks ago, we had our second jamming session. I brought my sister along to learn as well and the three of us talked, ate pickles, drank beer, and made some amazing jam in her lovely kitchen. The two recipes I will share below are from what we made a few weeks ago; the standard and delicious Strawberry Jam and our delightful and perfect experimental combination of Apricot and Raspberry Jam.
Please do not be too scared to try making jam or try canning. It is not as daunting as it seems and is a great weekend activity to do with the ones you love.
*There are many different methods and ways to approach canning but the equipment and tips below are what have helped me make successful jam every time.
Ingredients
Equipment List
Canning Pot/Water Bath Canner
Jar Rack
Tongs/Jar Lifter
Candy Thermometer
Canning Jars
Jar Funnel
Strawberry Jam Ingredients
8 Cups Mashed Strawberries
8 Cups Sugar
1 Tablespoon Butter
*Yields 10 ½ Pints
Apricot Raspberry Jam Ingredients
8 Cups Chopped Apricots
2 Pints Raspberries
6 Cups Sugar
¼ Cup Lemon Juice
1 Tablespoon Butter
*Yields 7 ½ Pints
The first step to making either jam is filling up the water bath pot with water and heating it up. It can take so long to boil if you have a crappy burner! The second step is to run the canning jars through the dishwasher to sanitize them and heat them up. Try to time it so it is drying just before you are ready to put the jam into the jars. The reason for this, other than making sure they are clean, is to make sure they are hot so when we put the piping hot jam into the jar it doesn’t break and shatter. Put the lids for the jars in a small saucepan full of simmering water on the stove.
For the Strawberry Jam: Wash and chop the strawberries and put them in a big mixing bowl. Use a masher, spoon, fork, or whatever works best for you to mash up the berries. I like to leave little chunks in mine but you can mash them to your own preference. Mash until you have 8 cups of mashed strawberries when you measure them out.
Put the mashed berries into a pot and mix in the sugar. Turn on the stove to a medium high heat and attach your candy thermometer to the side of the pot, making sure the tip of the thermometer doesn’t touch the bottom of the pan. The goal now is to bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Once the mixture starts to boil you can stop stirring constantly and just do a few stirs every minute. Also, make sure to turn down the burner a bit. When the mixture starts to foam, add the tablespoon of butter. This is used to keep the foaming to a minimum. Now, we wait to get the jam to 220 degrees. This took about 45 minutes for us.
For the Apricot Raspberry Jam: Chop the apricots up into small pieces and put them in a pot. Attach the candy thermometer to the pot, making sure the tip of the thermometer does not touch the bottom of the pan. Mix the apricots with the sugar and bring to a boil on a medium high heat stove, stirring constantly.
Once boiling, add the whole raspberries to the mixture and gently stir them in. You can stop mixing constantly and mix frequently, at least once a minute to make sure it doesn’t start to burn. Also, make sure to turn the burner down a bit. Add the tablespoon of butter when the mixture starts to foam and it will help keep the foaming down. Now we wait to get the jam to 220 degrees. This took us about 30 minutes.
Finishing process for both jams: Make sure the water in the caning bath is boiling and get the hot jars out of the dish washer. Also, make sure the jam is at 220 degrees before putting it in the jar!
Line up your jars so they are ready for filling and take some of the lids out of the saucepan to let them dry for a moment. Using a jar funnel and a ladle, pour the hot jam into the jar. Make sure to leave a quarter inch headroom at the top of the jar because you do not want to fill it up too much. Many jar funnels out there have measures on them and I have found mine extremely helpful when filling my jars.
Next, wipe any stray jam off the rim of the jars. You need to make sure to get any excess off or it will mold! Place the lids on the jars and twist them closed. Make sure not to twist them too tightly! Place the jar rack inside the canning pot and using tongs or a jar lifter, place the jars of jam into the jar rack inside the canning pot. Make sure the jars do not touch the sides of the pot, the bottom of the pot, or another jar. When using a canning rack this is usually not an issue. The water in the canning bath must cover the top of the jars by about an inch or so, so add more water until you achieve this. Put a lid on the pot and then bring the water to a boil.
Once the water is boiling again, it will take the strawberry jam 5 minutes to process and the apricot raspberry jam 10 minutes to process. Once your timer goes off, use the tongs or a jar lifter to carefully bring the jars out. Set them on a towel on the counter to cool off.
Now is the nerve-wracking part! To be able to store these jams in the cupboard (for up to one year!) you need to make sure they are sealed. You will know they have sealed when you hear the little POP sound. That is the middle of the lid going down and sealing the jar. Sitting there and waiting for them all to POP is so fun! We usually scream in excitement. If you cannot tell which ones have popped, lightly run your finger over the top of the lid and press down in the middle. If it pops back up and still moves it has not yet sealed. If you press down and it does not move, congratulations! You have successfully made your jam! (Some jars just need a slight touch to pop down and sea.)
Once the jars are sealed, leave them on the counter for 24 hours to settle and then place them in the cupboard or pantry and use them when needed. If some of your jars do not seal, not to worry. Just put them in the fridge and use them for the next week or so. The sealing process is just to seal them for long-term storage outside of the refrigerator. You can always make these recipes and skip the processing steps all together if you plan on needing a lot of homemade jam at once!
Use the jam on toast, muffins, scones, biscuits, in fillings for a cake, or my all time favorite, a good old-fashioned peanut butter and jelly sandwich!
We're trying to settle into this new schedule and this so happens to be an off week for us. So, we've uploaded the full album of photos for the Zucchini Bread, but most importantly...
Business cards!
To help us get the word out there, we've custom made our very own little cards. Though, there's no subtle off-white coloring. No tasteful thickness. Oh my God, it does have a watermark! Kind of. I made them cute, however, and that's what matters. You may have noticed we've only put Anna's name on them. Mainly, as we all know, she's the face of Cakebakes. I may do everything else, but it's her face that sells it!
If you know us, and most of you do, just let us know and we'll get you a card! Chances are, one of us has probably forced one on you anyways... but, hell, we're excited and proud!
And, we've been hard at work for next weeks recipe. (Whisper: I had to force her to make my birthday cake.) This weekend has been spent making smoothies, partaking in a little Conejo Valley Chili Cook-Off and stiiiiitchiiiinggg. We'll most likely show off more stitching the week after next, but for next week: birthday cake!
So, uh, yea... don't forget to like us on Facebook, and Twitter, to learn about new updates and posts!
Busy, busy! Between Easter celebrations, gargantuan yard work projects, visiting family, and promotions. (Congratulations, girl!) There are also some Cakebakes business cards in the mail for those who might catch us in person. And, we're still trying to figure out the best schedule for this whole baking thing! Perhaps I should let Anna bake and not force her to stucco my house... but I digress... We'll be baking it up this afternoon for next weeks post. Zucchinis are involved.
Not wanting to go without giving our wonderful followers (yes, you're wonderful... specifically you) something to salivate over I've decided to get around to uploading the full photo sets from each of our recipes. You can view them over at our Facebook page. It's a veritable treasure trove of delicious treats.
And I apologize in advance if I spam any of you on there. I've got about 200 photos to upload. I haven't done this before! Hopefully it doesn't tell you about each one. If it does, well... yell at Anna.
Remember, if you've baked up one of our delectable dishes and would like to be featured, feel free to contact us. We'd love to show you off. And, while I just linked our Facebook page, I have to, again, for posterity's sake. So, don't forget to like us on Facebook, and Twitter, to learn about new updates and posts!
Feel the rain on your skin 'cause no one else can feel it for you,
Dreams are built with rising dough and sprinkles on rolling pin foundations and puffy clouds of flour floating high above. Cakebakes follows the trials and tribulations of Anna Ghirardelli on her quest to bake the perfect infectious confections and sugary treats.
After several months of researching and planning things are finally starting to come together. Through this blog we'll document each and every step we take in our goal of one day opening our very own little bakery. What lofty ambitions we have, but we've got to start somewhere!
The first stretch of road we're headed down will be taking us through a lot more researching and learning about recipes and baked deliciousness. Check back soon for some oven based experimenting!
