My Attempt at Ethnic Baking

So, this post was drafted on November 27.  And it's now December 3.  I try, I try.  Christmas festivities are happening here.  The tree is up, many decorations are strewn around the house and it looks pretty disastrous but oh well.  As much as I want it to be, this isn't a magazine or an episode of Fixer Upper.

The week before Thanksgiving I got this crazy whim.  We all crave our favorite ethnic treats and dishes around the holidays.  As for me, I want lefse, spritz cookies, krumkake and...rosettes.  It's been awhile since I've seen a rosette.  My grandma on my dad's side use to buy them from a bakery for Christmas.  If a Norwegian grandma is buying it from a bakery you know it a challenge to make.  But, I have a set of rosette irons I bought with a gift certificate I got for a shower gift to use at my hometown drug store.  They have been moved around many times since we got married in 2007 and when I encounter them I always think...I should try that some day.

So, I went and  lost my mind.

I read recipes and researched and decided to try to heat a big pan of oil and fry some batter even though every indication showed that this is difficult, takes practice and makes your house smell bad.  

It was a mess from the start.  First, the batter slid off the irons and left half cooked strings floating in the dish.  So I adjusted the temperature for the irons and it stuck.  And I managed to make some that were the correct shape. 

But they were not crispy like I remembered.  Also you can see there are burnt edges on many of them.  Pretty soon the house smelled horrible.  Then it was full of smoke.  I question whether the smoke alarms work because it was so bad.  My eyes were burning.  It turned out oil had dripped on the burner and also little pieces of loose batter were floating in the oil and being incinerated.  Wow.  It was bad.  I finally turned off the heat and opened all the windows.  

Hey, it was my first try...

I sprinkled on some sugar and ate a lot of batter.  I later watched a few youtube videos and got some advice from my social media friends.  It turns out the temperature of the oil is very important, the burnt edges were from the irons touching the pan and people prefer to make these anywhere but their own house (garage, lake cabin, etc.) A lot of people said their older male relatives were the main rosette makers in their families which was interesting.  

So, my Thanksgiving treat was a bust and I ended up making a nice batch of spritz cookies.  Allan was happy to have someone home when he woke up on Thanksgiving.  Sadly, he has spent most holidays alone!  I'm sure he's resentful about it...

We headed to Grand Forks for the day.  Justin told Ben to take Milo downstairs and get some clothes on.  Milo is an expert and undressing himself but not as proficient at dressing.  I was so happy when I went down there and Ben had got them both dressed and he picked matching shirts for them!  

It was their matching 4th of July shirts but still...impressive.  The picture above is the two of them circling their Christmas list in a toy catalogue.  A time honored tradition.  It's not the same as the JCPenney catalogue or the Sears one but this is our world now.  

I intend to do a longer post with Christmas decorations soon but here are a few preview photos.  

She's so ready!

The Friday after Thanksgiving Justin had to work and I made Ben help me remove all the rotten pumpkins from our property while the other kids hung out with their cousins at the farm.  Then I set up a modest Christmas light display.  It was above freezing that day so I knew I had to act fast.  

This is all we can handle right now.  Love it or leave it!