LEFSE ❤️
Bayli, a friend and neighbor of mine, recently reached out to me asking for lessons on how to make lefse. Her grandma was giving away a bunch of her things which included her lefse gear. Bayli's grandpa was concerned that he wouldn't get any lefse anymore so she wanted to learn how to make it and send him some for father's day. I immediately said yes and we worked to set up a baking date.
The baking session went great with some lefse rounds looking round and others looking like turtles. Rolling lefse into nice thin circles takes lots of practice so the first few turn out crazy each time I begin. My mother in law grades her lefse A, B or C and only uses the A ranked ones for big occasions like Christmas. We joke that she serves the immediate family the C's. It is a smart idea though and makes it easy to remember which ones make the most sense to give to others as a gift.
Speaking of gifts, I thought I would follow in Bayli's footsteps and send my grandma some lefse too! She is the one that taught me how to make it after all. She also gave me some tips for mailing to others which I have listed below. I feel it is only right that she gets a sweet surprise in the mail as well.
Here is Bayli checking one of the rounds on the grill. We made one and a half batches together in just a few hours. That included some catching up on life and cleanup. It is great to have a helper when making lefse because it can get tiring to do all the rolling alone and constantly watching the grill so nothing burns.
Tips on mailing lefse from my Grandma Marcy:
1. Wrap the lefse in a few plastic baggies first then with aluminum foil - shinier side out. The shiny side will reflect more heat out away from the lefse.
2. Freeze the package and then place in a padded mailer.
3. Now this step is tricky if you don't live in a small town. My grandma knew the exact time of mail pickup and dropped it off at the post office and asked that it get out in the mail going right then because it is perishable. She told them it was homemade lefse and in a small town like Decorah, the post office employees understood the importance.
4. If you cannot do step 3, it may be wise to pay for expedited shipping. :)
Lastly, in case you are wondering, lefse tastes just as good in the summer as it does at Christmas!
