Monday, November 30, 2009

Lefse with Peanut Butter and Nutella

This isn't a recipe so much as just a new way to use up the leftover holiday lefse in your fridge. Assuming anyone else has leftover lefse in their fridges.

If you're not familiar, lefse is a Norwegian flatbread that's thinner than a quesadilla, but thicker than a crepe, and its primary ingredient is potatoes. (Potatoes are a common baking ingredient in the area -- in early days, they were locally grown, plentiful, and had a long cellar life.)

My family isn't of Norwegian heritage, but we grew up in a community that was predominantly Norwegian Lutheran. A lot of people made lefse at home, and distributed it to any neighbors who didn't. One of my high school organizations even sold lefse as a fundraiser each year. Some of the men and women from the community would gather at the high school cafeteria, and we'd all make lefse together to fulfill our orders.

Making lefse is time-consuming, but fairly simple, although it requires a lot of extra tools that I don't have room to store. So I'm content with buying my lefse. This is Freddy's.

They're a year-round lefse-making operation, and they supply lefse to all the local grocery stores. They're located about a mile away, and you can walk up to their shop -- via a nearly hidden side door in a corregated steel building -- and buy your fresh, warm lefse any day of the week.

You probably can't read the guidance on the package, but the folks at Freddy's recommend serving "with lutefisk, pork links, bacon, sausage or hamburger. Also delightful rolled up with butter, or butter and sugar, jelly or cinnamon. Excellent potato substitute for family lunch boxes."

Now, I don't know of anyone who eats lefse with meat, and I certainly don't know of anyone who considers it a substitute for potatoes. But I know a lot of people who eat lefse with either butter or butter and sugar. Except my mom, who eats hers with Cool Whip. And me. I've been eating lefse since I was a li'l whippersnapper, but I've always asked for my lefse with peanut butter and jelly, and that's how I love it to this day.

But today I had a chocolate craving, so I substituted Nutella for the jelly. And it was delightful.

Simply lay your lefse on a flat surface, and cut down to your preferred size. These were small sheets; no cutting required.

Spread with peanut butter and top with Nutella.

I'd use more Nutella than I did in this photo. I was at the end of my jar.

Roll 'em up, and scarf 'em down. Uff da!

5 comments:

Palidor said...

Interesting. Never heard of lefse before. Thanks for teaching me something new! Mm, I'd like mine with nutella and dulce de leche. :-)

Cathy said...

I'm with Palidor here - never heard of it or seen it in any of the stores up here. I would probably do peanut butter and a banana in the middle.

Pink Shoes said...

I've never strayed from butter and sugar... My folks make their own, and I beg them to send me some every year. They however hold it hostage until they visit or I travel north.

chow and chatter said...

cool never heard of these looks yummy

Luigi said...

Never heard of these, I would prefer something savoury in there, but a great idea! :)