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Date Collected

Fall 11-6-2018

Place item was collected

Logan, Utah

Informant

Shannon Toolson

Point of Discovery/Informant Bio

Shannon Toolson is the mother of two sons and adopted mother of all missionaries that serve in in her home town, Chelan Washington. She loves cooking large meals to share with family, friends, and hungry missionaries. She also loves folklore and actively seeks it out during her travels across the world. She stated, “Whenever I travel, I seek out folk museums if possible. I love the real-life stories found in everyday objects and the items/ways people incorporate beauty and celebration in ordinary things.”

Context

Shannon contacted me after I posted a message on my Facebook profile describing my folklore collection project and how I was looking for some unique recipes. She was very excited that I was studying folklore and said she was eager to pass along a very special recipe. I sent her a list of questions she could use to guide how she responded, and she emailed me her response the moment she got back from shopping earlier that day.

Text

It is a comfort food for me for many reasons. 1) my parents divorced when I was 2. My mom lived kind of a wild life until I was about 10, so I spent a lot of time with my grandma. When I think of "home" her house comes to mind. She was famous for her Norwegian Christmas cookies, or nestle toll house cookies the rest of the year. Her kitchen always smelled like coffee and butter. 2) Krumkake are a labor of love - each cookie has to be cooked individually on a press and then rolled while hot. Every year while making the cookies I think of my grandma and her mom before her, and countless women before them, standing for hours over a hot stove and burning their finger tips to make a special treat for their families.

Pearl’s Whipped Cream Krumkake

1/2 cup whipping cream

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup butter

2 cups flourMelt butter, stirring frequently, in a pan on the stove. Set aside to cool. Beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Set aside. Beat eggs in a separate bowl (large enough for all of the ingredients to go into.) Stir in whipped cream, sugar and nutmeg. Next, stir in flour a bit at a time. Have Krumkake iron warmed on both sides (medium high is best.) Place 1 tsp. dough on iron. Turn iron to brown both sides.* Roll quickly on a stick or by hand on wax paper. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.


* electric Krumkake irons are now available. They are like a waffle iron, make two cookies at a time and don't need to be turned over. This simplifies the process quite a bit, although they still have to be watched carefully and rolled by hand while piping hot!

Texture

Shannon was very excited and eager to share her foodway and continued messaging me throughout the evening. During a time of deep reflection, she sent me three photographs and a blog post she wrote in 2011: Today I started baking. I always start with the Krumkake, because they are the most labor intensive and because they hold the sweetest memories. I had to stop 3/4 of the way through to go to a hair appointment. When I came home and stepped into the front door, I was stopped in my tracks by the smell. I closed my eyes and breathed in, and for a moment I was in my Grandma Pearl's kitchen. That warm, sweet smell of butter - memories came flooding back to me. (Our whole family, crowded around the kitchen table and spilling onto card tables to laugh over holiday meals... the life-size Santa poster carefully hung on the front door... a flocked tree sparkling through the window... Christmas cards, some written in Norwegian, taped to the closet door... 5-gallon jars, cleaned and carefully filled, each with a different kind of cookie.) I miss my Grandma. I am very, very blessed to have shared so many years with her. I am so thankful to have been born to a family who loves me, and to have married into a family who accepts me as their own. I am grateful to share this rich heritage with my children.

Course

ENGL 2210

Instructor

Lynne S. McNeill

Semester and year

Fall 2018

Theme

G1: Holidays

EAD Number

1.13.1.2.2.34

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Additional Files

IMG_3325.JPG (2552 kB)
Finished krumpkake shell after being rolled

IMG_3649.JPG (2887 kB)

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