This is our first Christmas with Grandma in heaven, and even though she wasn’t able to celebrate the last few Christmases in our homes with us, it’s still a milestone that’s very real to get through. We have some very strong Christmas traditions on her side of the family, and I know we’ll carry them on with our children through the years. My family has always celebrated Christmas primarily on Christmas Eve. We have always had steak and lobster tails as our dinner (hold the lutefisk please!), and open all of our Christmas presents after dinner, except for Santa presents on Christmas morning, of course – this is a Scandinavian tradition.
Along with the steak and lobster at dinner, we always have to have lefse and lemon butter with in tart shells for dessert. I actually have no idea why lemon butter is a Scandinavian tradition. Google is failing me, and sadly I never asked my Grandma why. I know the Lefse House in Camrose sells it and Grandma always bought from them every year for Christmas Eve dessert. My mom ordered the lefse for Christmas Eve this year and really wanted lemon butter, but they said it doesn’t ship well (understandably) so I wanted to surprise her and try making some this year, and I think it turned out great!
Lemon Butter
- 6 eggs
- 2 – 2½ cups sugar
- 5-6 lemons
- Zest of 2 lemons
- 1/3 cup butter, unsalted
Beat the eggs with an electric mixer in a large saucepan until light and frothy and add sugar and beat until incorporated. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir over medium-low heat until thick – this takes awhile, up to an hour.
Depending on how lemony your taste is, is how many lemons and sugar to add. The base of this recipe calls for 6 lemons and 2 cups of sugar; I love lemon but that recipe was a bit too acidic for me, so I added an extra ½ cup of sugar and it tasted about perfect to me!
- 6 eggs
- 2 - 2½ cups sugar
- 5-6 lemons
- Zest of 2 lemons
- ⅓ cup butter, unsalted
- Beat the eggs with an electric mixer in a large saucepan until light and frothy.
- Add sugar and beat until incorporated.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and stir frequently over medium-low heat until thickened; this will take at least 45 minutes.
- Keep in the fridge, should keep for 2 weeks, up to 3 weeks.
Google tells met that not only is this great in tart shells but it can be spread on toast and it would make an absolutely wonderful cake layer filler!
Merry Christmas, everyone!
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