Upper Midwest A large thin cookie made from batter poured into an embossed mold with hinged plates.
ETYMOLOGY:
Norwegian : krum, curved, crooked (from Middle Low German, from Old High German krump) + kake, cake (from Old Norse kaka).
REGIONAL NOTE:
Scandinavian immigrants in the 19th century flocked to the Upper Midwest. The English they learned was augmented by Scandinavian words for their native food and customs. Thus we have krumkake, a large, light, very thin Norwegian cookie made from an egg-based batter poured into an embossed hinged iron similar to a waffle iron. Peeled off the iron while warm and pliable, each krumkake is then rolled around a cone-shaped metal tube so that it hardens in that shape and is filled with sweetened whipped cream. Cookbooks have spread the popularity of krumkake beyond Wisconsin and Minnesota.