Åå så koseleg!

This blog post is written in conjunction with Sarah Shotts' ProjectSTIR movement to record heirloom recipes around the world! To get on board with her amazing journey be sure to visit and support her Kickstarter!

Cooking, for me, has always been an absolute joy. Since I was young I would make up recipes and cook for my family (sometimes not so successfully but what do you expect from a third grader!?). When I first moved to Norway my husband, bless his heart, had just the bare-bones of a kitchen and when I tried to cook it was quite difficult for me. Not only because I was lacking in utensils and such but the conversions from American measurements to things like deciliters and grams and substitutes. It's been an adventure, for sure.

However, even as I sit here our house is engulfed with the smells of apples, cinnamon and nutmeg. I've been making apple butter in my crock-pot for three days. (Two large batches!) When I walked in the house last night after work to the smell of warm apple butter I felt a huge pang of emotion hit me in the chest. This is the smell of my childhood in America filling the home of my family in Norway.

There is a word in Norwegian that eludes a true definition in English but is used widely and quite regularly here in Norway:

koseleg

Pronounced KOH-sell-eg. This word - to dilute it enough into English - basically means “cozy” but it's so much more than that. It is an emotion, a feeling, an adjective. It's when you feel that pang of emotion hit you in the chest followed by the warm-fuzzies of remembering “the old days” engulfed in an atmosphere of candlelight, large pillows, blankets and delicious smells. ALL of that in one word – koseleg.

The moments that are the most koseleg for me are when I am able to bring in an American tradition to my home. I'm not generally homesick for America. Don't get me wrong, I miss my friends and family (AND decent PEANUT BUTTER...cough) but I'm content here and have adopted many Norwegian food traditions in our home. But having the chance to sip a pumpkin spice latte while nibbling on toast smeared with apple butter is not so easy to come by here.

Some adventures I've embarked on in the search for koseleg American recipes:

Everything bagels – bagels topped with poppy seeds, dried onions etc. etc. etc.

Ranch dressing mix – a powder to blend with soured milk and mayonaise to recreate Hidden Valley Ranch

Pumpkin Spice Syrup – I've blogged this recipe here!

Cranberry orange sauce

Chicken/Turkey stock – oh how I miss the convenience of canned stock!

Apple butter

Chocolate cake – the boxed cake here is, well, only one flavor and very dry

Hummus

Cincinnati Chili

Corn bread

AND MORE!

Naked chocolate cake with strawberry buttercream frosting and strawberry jam layers, topped with fresh fruit. All from scratch.

Gluten free 2-layer lemon lavender cake with lavender buttercream frosting and candied lemons. All from scratch, even grew the lavender myself!

Homemade hummus!!Heavenly!

Let me tell ya, making the “everything” topping for the bagel is WORK! Let alone making the BAGEL too! And making ranch dressing mix from scratch? HOLY SHMOLY! (Tip: dehydrating mushrooms to grind up makes your house smell like a baby's diaper for about a week)

Horrible picture but delicious results!

In the end, all of those adventures are worth it when I take that first bite and melt into a puddle of koseleg.

One frustration, however, comes when I'm trying to “interpret” a family recipe from America into Norwegian ingredients and measurements. It rarely goes well the first try. When a recipe calls for a stick of butter I have to convert that into grams and use a scale because we don't have sticks of butter here. Any recipes call for Crisco? Forget about it! I have yet to find a good substitute for that one.

Every year I have a Thanksgiving dinner here and I've blogged about it before but haven't followed up on my promise to post the recipe for pumpkin pie. That was one successful family recipe that happened on the first try. I had to tweak it but it ended up tasting just like Mimi, my great grandmother, used to make. Because her crust recipe called for Crisco I found another crust recipe that worked beautifully! I've used it for sweet and savory pies with great success! This is the site where I found the crust recipe and where she has more recipes to pair with the crust!

So because it is officially the start of PUMPKIN EVERYTHING season, here is Mimi's Pumpkin Pie

Mimi teaching me how to make a pie crust ca. 1984

CRUST – Recipe makes enough for two single crusts or one double crust (top and bottom)

2 cups (260 g) all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar (for sweet pies – like this pumpkin recipe- only, skip if savory)

2 sticks unsalted butter (225 g) cubed

½ cup (1.25dl) full fat sour cream

Cube the butter first and set aside so it has time to soften slightly before you begin to use it.

In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, and sugar. Stir well to combine.

Remove rings from fingers ;)

Add butter cubes to the flour mixture and get your hands to work squishing the butter into the flour with your fingers until you have a coarse meal with a few bits of butter visible.

Add the sour cream and cut it in with a fork or continue to use your hands.

Form the dough into a roll and cut into two pieces. Flatten them out into two disks and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Chillin the fridge for at least 30 minutes (DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP) so the dough can tighten up and the flour has a chance to absorb some of the excess moisture from the sour cream.

If the dough has been in the fridge for over 2 hours let it sit on the counter for 5-10 minute to loosen up enough for use.

Roll out to desired size and place in your ungreased pie plate.

Refrigerate until ready to use (especially if your kitchen is warm).

PIE FILLING

1 cup (2.25dl) pumpkin

1 egg – lightly beaten with a fork

1 Tbps flour

¼ tsp salt

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

¾ cup (1.75 dl) sugar

2 cups (4.74 dl) milk

Bring the milk to a boil and quickly remove before it over cooks.

Add the egg into the pumpkin and beat it well.

Slowly add in the milk to the egg/pumpkin mixture so that the eggs don't scramble.

Add the dry ingredients and mix well.

Pour into an unbaked nine inch pie shell.

Bake for 5 minutes at 450F (230C) degrees then about 35-45 minutes in a 325-350F (160-175C) degree oven.

All the pumpkin recipes I made for Thanksgiving last year!

Here's wishing you a KOSELEG day with a slice of Mimi's Pumpkin Pie!

Don't forget to check out ProjectSTIR!