The Secret Art of Norwegian Brown Cheese (+ 5 Recipes)

When I was growing up, I would visit my grandparents in Norway every summer. And each summer I would optimistically try a slice of brunost, or Norwegian brown cheese, hoping that this was the year I finally loved it.

And I have noticed with foreign visitors that Norwegian brown cheese is one of those foods people tend to love or hate. Most people do love it, but I’ve seen a few people quite shocked by the taste. It’s unique! But if you don’t immediately enjoy it, I’m happy to report that you can in fact learn to. Thank goodness, because I really didn’t want to lose my Norwegian citizenship over sliced cheese.

The best way I can describe brunost is that it tastes like a block of caramel fudge that has been stored in a barn. 

While not technically a cheese, brunost is made from leftover whey from the cheesemaking process. The whey is boiled down until it caramelizes. In Norway you can buy brown cheese made both from cow’s milk and from goat’s milk, with slightly varying flavors.

We have milder brown cheese made from cow’s milk, Gudbrandsdalsost made from a mix of cow and goat milk, and geitost (in the blue packaging) made from goat milk. Geitost has the strongest flavor and is my family’s favorite brown cheese (which might also explain why it took me so long to come around to it).

Some supermarkets abroad carry brown cheese as well, otherwise you can order it online. You can order Norwegian brown cheese on Amazon here.

While I’m still not the biggest fan of eating brown cheese on its own, I love cooking and baking with it. I’ll add a few slices of brown cheese to any of my creamy sauces and stews, especially mushroom based sauces. Brown cheese is especially good for sauces because it melts easily and doesn’t disrupt the texture of the sauce.

And recently I’ve gotten into adding brown cheese to my favorite cakes and baked goods. This gives them such a unique and distinctly Norwegian flavor.

5 Brown Cheese Recipes

If you’re new to brown cheese, or looking to diversify your brunost experience, here are some of my favorite brown cheese sweet treat recipes:

Norwegian waffles with brown cheese

While you can certainly eat brown cheese on a slice of bread, an even tastier – and Norwegian! – vehicle for your brunost is Norwegian waffles. In fact if you’re in Norway and looking to sample brown cheese you can easily find waffles with brown cheese sold at most gas stations, convenience stores and on board ferries.

Norwegians have been eating waffles for hundreds of years, and they’re still a weekly staple for many families here. You even can see Norway’s oldest waffle iron, from 1685, at the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History in Oslo.

Norwegian waffles are thinner (and tastier!) than Belgian waffles, and they’re spiced with freshly ground cardamom. I’ve shared my Norwegian waffle recipe here.

Norwegian Apple Cake With Brown Cheese Frosting

This is my favorite brown cheese recipe. In fact I recently visited my parents in France and brought them a block of brown cheese so they could make this very cake for their friends. It’s so good!

Brown cheese tastes wonderful with this dark, cinnamon spiced apple cake (this also happens to be one of my favorite apple cake recipes, even without the brown cheese frosting).

And you can can also use this brown cheese frosting on other cakes or cupcakes to give your favorite cake a Norwegian twist. I’ve shared my Norwegian apple cake with brown cheese frosting recipe here.

Norwegian Brown Cheese + White Chocolate Cookies

We all love white chocolate chip cookies, but have you ever tried them with brown cheese? These white chocolate chunk cookies have small pieces of brown cheese in them, which pairs perfectly with the sweetness of the white chocolate. Plus they’re super easy to make.

I’ve shared my brown cheese and white chocolate cookie recipe here.

Norwegian Brown Cheese Cheesecake (Brunost Ostekake)

If you love cheesecake I can almost guarantee you will adore this cake. You know how some perfumes smell so luxurious that you just know they’re incredibly expensive? Well I would say that brown cheese cheesecake tastes like an expensive cheesecake.

You can also adjust the amount of brown cheese if you like, so that it can have just a slight hint of Norway or fully taste like you’re in the fjords. I’ve shared my brunost cheesecake recipe here.

Norwegian Brunost Caramel Squares

These brown cheese caramel squares are so good. In fact just writing about them now is tempting me to make them again. They have a shortbread crust and soft brown cheese caramel filling topped with dark chocolate. I’ve shared my recipe for these brown cheese caramel squares here.