My cousin Cloey keeps a supply of these buns in plastic bags in her freezer to give to grandkids when they come to visit. Fortunately, she usually has these on hand when we visit them at Circle.

Soften:
2 packages of dry yeast in
1 cup warm water

Combine and cool to luke warm:
1 cup hot water
1 cup All Bran

In a mixing bowl mix:
½ cup sugar
1 cup shortening
1½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
the Bran mixture
the yeast mixture
3 cups white flour

Mix for a couple of minutes with the mixer.

Then stir in with a spoon:
3 additional cups of white flour

Let the dough raise in the same bowl until it has doubled.
No kneading! Then make the buns.
I rolled the dough out and cut the buns with a glass.
Cloey pinches off dough and makes it into buns.

When I asked her about this she said, “it all tastes the same.”

Let the buns rise again until double, probably an hour, then bake at 375 until nicely browned.

When I worked as a secretary to the Tax Committee of the Montana Legislature, I would sometimes treat the committee members to muffins when they met early in the morning.

Sometimes I would use muffin mixes, but when I made these, they were always the first to disappear.

Combine in a large bowl:
2 cups flour
½ cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon soda
½ teaspoon salt
Mix the following together and stir into the dry ingredients, just until dry ingredients are dampened (don’t overmix):
8 ounce container of lemon yogurt
½ cup oil
½ teaspoon almond flavoring
2 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

Spoon into muffin pan which has been sprayed with Pam. Sprinkle with a streusel mixture made of:
1/3 cup sugar
¼ cup flour
2 tablespoons butter or margarine

Bake at 400 until done, 18 to 20 minutes or until light brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean Watch carefully.

I have made these with pineapple yogurt, adding a little bit of coconut, and grated orange peel, and they are also good.

Pick berries when they are fully ripe.

Cover berries with water and boil gently for about 20 minutes.

Drain off the juice and measure 7 cups in a large pan.

Add the juice of one lemon and a box of pectin and boil one minute.

Add 7 cups of sugar, bring back to a boil and boil three minutes.

Place in canning jars and process in boiling water bath for 15 minutes.
(This recipe came from Our Redeemers Lutheran Church Cookbook (1980).

I was grown up before I knew there was any other way to eat pancakes other than with chokecherry syrup and sour cream. Try it!

I went to the grocery store to buy pancake syrup the other day and couldn’t believe it cost almost $3 a bottle. I came home and looked up this recipe.

In a small saucepan bring ¾ cup of water to a boil.

Reduce the heat to low and stir in 2 cups of brown sugar, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved.

Let it boil for a couple of minutes.

Add a teaspoon of maple flavoring. It tastes just as good as the stuff from the store, and it’s nice and warm to pour over your pancakes.

Mix together:

1¼ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
Add: 1 egg
1 cup sourdough starter
1 cup milk
A few drops of almond flavoring
3 tablespoons oil

Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, beat the egg and then add the sourdough, milk, flavoring, and oil. Mix with the dry ingredients. Pour ¼ to ½ cup of batter on a greased griddle which has been heated to medium hot (375). Bake until golden brown on both sides.

I make triple batches of this bread for our use about every two weeks. It is much less expensive than buying bread at the grocery store and definitely tastes better, too. Once a sourdough pot has been started, it is simple to keep it going. There are packages of prepared sourdough starter in many of the grocery stores. Every time you use the starter, add equal amounts of flour and bottled water. I use a cup and a half of starter when I bake my bread, so I add a cup of water and a cup of flour. I let it sit on the counter over night, stir well, and refrigerate until the next time I need it. It’s important to use bottled water because the chlorine in tap water will kill the action of the yeast over time.

In a two-cup glass measuring cup, combine ½ cup very warm water and a package, or one tablespoon, of yeast. Add a teaspoon of sugar and stir to moisten all the yeast. Let it sit until it starts to bubble.

Meanwhile, combine in the bowl of your processor:
3¾ cups flour (Gold Medal Best for Bread Flour is good)
1½ teaspoon salt and ¼ cup of sugar
2 tablespoons butter or margarine cut into 4 chunks
Process until the butter is well mixed, about ten seconds. Add the following to the yeast mixture in the measuring cup:
½ cup sourdough
2/3 cup milk (no need to warm as in old recipes)

Turn on the processor and pour the liquid slowly down the feed tube. Process until it forms a ball. Let it sit for a couple of minutes so the flour can absorb the liquid. Turn the processor back on and let the dough circle around the bowl about 75 times.

Take the dough out of the processor and place it in a greased bowl in a warm place until it doubles in size. Punch it down really well, turn the dough over so all sides are greased, and let it raise again until double. One test to check if the dough is double is to poke your finger slightly into the dough. If the indentation remains, the dough is doubled. Cut the dough into two parts, form into loaves, and place in two medium-sized, well-greased, bread pans. Let raise again until the dough is about an inch over the top of the pan. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

The dough should be nice and brown and sound hollow when tapped. Cool well and store in plastic bags.

Five-year-old Brock taught me how to do this on our last visit to Arizona.

Put a large flour tortilla on a plate. Put it in the microwave for 15 seconds.

Butter it when it’s warm and sprinkle with sugar.

Brock says you have to be very careful when you roll it up.

You have to fold the bottom up a little, and then roll it up from the side, so the butter doesn’t leak out.

I found this a very satisfactory substitute for lefse, and it would be good with brown sugar or a little cinnamon and sugar.

There are probably as many recipes for lefse as there are Scandinavian cooks. I even have a recipe book that has nothing but lefse recipes in it. This recipe was given to me by Aunt Lena who made great lefse. When she got to the point where she wasn’t able to make it anymore, she gave me her griddle and lefse stick.

One of the first gifts my Dad gave my mother after they were married was a lefse rolling pin. My mother and Aunt Jenny would make huge batches of dough and bake it on top of the wood stove at Aunt Jenny’s house. After my folks moved to Clancy, my Mom and Dad baked lefse on the wood stove in their garage. When I inherited Mom’s rolling pin, it was pretty well worn out, and I was having trouble getting the dough out of the grooves, so Jim bought me a new one. A couple of Christmases later, he gave me a new griddle, and then later on, a cloth-covered board for rolling. What romantic men! They go to great lengths to ensure their supply of lefse. Now, when we make our lefse, I am the roller and Jim is the baker. He’s getting pretty handy with that lefse stick, but once in a while I have to caution him to just poke the bubbles, not beat the lefse to death!

So here is Aunt Lena’s recipe:

Peel, cube, and boil ten pounds of potatoes. White are the best, but last year we made a batch with Yukon Gold and the dough rolled out just fine. Make sure that no moisture remains on the potatoes. My mom used to drain the potatoes, shake them over the burner to evaporate any moisture in the pan, and then cover them for a few minutes with a dish towel to absorb the steam.

Put through a ricer or a food mill to remove all the lumps. I tried using the food processor but it turned the potatoes to glue. You should have about 12 cups of potatoes. Add ½ cup of half-and-half or cream and ½ cup butter or margarine when the potatoes are still hot. Refrigerate until very cold; overnight is best. When cold, mix in 4 cups flour, 1 tablespoon salt, and ¼ cup powdered sugar. Aunt Lena warns that if you add salt when the potatoes are hot, you will have tough lefse and it will be hard to roll out.


I measure the dough out by 1/3 cupfuls and place it back in the refrigerator. If it gets warm, it gets sticky and is difficult to roll. Roll the dough on a heavily floured surface, turning it over a couple of times as you roll. I start with a regular rolling pin and switch to the lefse rolling pin when it starts to get thin. Roll as thin as possible and try to keep it round (ha ha). Transfer the dough with the lefse stick to the ungreased griddle which has been heated to the highest setting. Fry until brown spots appear on one side, turn it, and do the same thing on the other side. Poke holes with the lefse stick in the large bubbles that appear. Transfer to a wax paper covered countertop and stack one on top of the other as they are baked. Keep a dish towel or a wad of paper towel handy to brush off the flour that accumulates on the griddle (the baker’s responsibility).

When finished baking, fold each lefse round in quarters and, when thoroughly cooled, store in plastic bags in the freezer. Then the roller and the baker argue about who gets to eat the less than perfect lefse—the ones with holes and tears. When serving the lefse, I think it is better if it is allowed to come to room temperature.

In our family the traditional way to eat lefse is to spread it with butter and brown sugar and roll it tightly. My dad loved it with turkey, dressing, and cranberry sauce on holidays. Others like sugar and cinnamon, or jam.

Just don’t insult a Scandinavian by calling it a tortilla, even if there is a slight resemblance.
At the bottom of Aunt Lena’s lefse recipe, she has written “good luck.” She also spells it with an “a” instead of an “e.”

This was a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens (March 1955).

I made this bread often when the kids were young.

Then I lost the recipe.

Many years later (1977) I wrote the magazine asking if they could furnish me with the recipe, and they were able to send it to me.

It’s very good and doesn’t need any kneading.
Soften 2 packages of dry yeast in ½ cup warm water.

In a large bowl, combine and cool to lukewarm:
1½ cups boiling water
1 cup quick cooking rolled oats
½ cup molasses
1/3 cup shortening
1 tablespoon salt
Beat in:
2 cups flour
2 eggs
the softened yeast
Beat well and then stir in another
3½ to 4 cups of flour

Adding some chopped dates, raisins, or finely chopped walnuts is optional.

The dough will be sticky.

Grease the top lightly, cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or as long as overnight.

Turn out on a well-floured surface and shape in two loaves.

Place in greased loaf pans and let rise in a warm place until double, about 2 hours.

(It doesn’t take that long at Montana altitude.)

Bake at 375 for 40 to 50 minutes, or until nice and brown and the loaves sound hollow when tapped.

This is another recipe that came from Grandma’s hand written cook book.

Combine in a large bowl: (I use a wire whisk to combine the dry ingredients)
2 cups sugar
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Combine and add to the dry mixture:
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup oil
2 cups grated zucchini
Then add, if desired:
1 cup raisins or dates
½ cup chopped nuts
Pour into 2 well-greased loaf pans and bake at 350 until a toothpick stuck in the middle of the loaf comes out clean.

After the bread has cooled, wrap tightly in foil.

This freezes well and is nice to have on hand when unexpected company drops in.

I also tried baking this bread in wide-mouth pint Kerr jars.

Just spray the inside of the jars with Pam, fill half full, place jars on a cookie sheet and bake as above.
When cool, place lids on jars and place in the freezer.

Nice to take along for picnics or for a snack when traveling.