Krumkake

Krumkake is made from a thin batter of flour, sugar, butter, eggs and cream, sometimes with cardamom, cooked briefly between the two plates of a decorated iron that presses a pattern into the surface, then lifted off while hot and wrapped around a wooden cone before it stiffens. Timing is the whole skill: a few seconds too long and it cracks rather than rolls. The irons themselves are heirlooms in many families, with patterns that identify a household. It belongs to the julekaker tradition, the seven sorts of Christmas biscuit that convention says a household should bake, alongside sandkaker, goro, berlinerkranser and others, and it is often filled with whipped cream or cloudberries when served.

What's there

• The patterned iron - a decorated press producing the wafer's surface.
• The rolling - the hot wafer shaped around a cone in seconds.
• The Christmas seven - krumkake among the traditional biscuit sorts.
• The fillings - whipped cream or cloudberries added when served.

When to go

November and December, when baking begins across the country and bakeries and cafes stock it; it appears at other times but is firmly associated with Christmas. Christmas markets sell it freshly made.

Practical notes

Shop-bought versions are often stale and dull compared with freshly rolled ones. It is very sweet and fragile, breaking easily in transport. Making it requires the specific iron, which is not a general kitchen item.

Nearby

Christmas markets in Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim sell it fresh; folk museums demonstrate the baking in December.