Hi Everyone! When I was little my mothers Aunt used to come and make a kettle of Clayzels(not sure of spelling but that is how it it pronounced) They were like a heavy dumpling of some kind. She was from norway so I think it was from there. I know this is a shot in the dark but thought I would put it out there. Have a fun weekend everyone!

humm, will surf and see if I can find you a recipe

Thanks Crafty Bear!

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/potato-...gs/detail.aspx
Not sure if this is what your looking for or not...you didn't say if it was stuffed with anything. Hope this is it. :)

I'm sure Crafty Bear will come up with one.

My DH's parents are from Austria and they make a dumpling out of potatos (both raw and mashed together). If this sounds like what you are referring to let me know and I will give you recipe. ;-)

do you know what ethnic background they were?

You're not thinking Spaetzle Dumpling are you, which is a German dumpling?

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/german-...gs/detail.aspx

Could it be Gnocchi?
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/gnocchi-i/detail.aspx

My mom used to make Kumle (koomlah) When we didnt have ham in the house, she made potato pancakes this same way, but fried them in a cast iron skillet with butter. She would whip up a big batch, and save half in the refrigerator for breakfast the next morning.
Is this one similar?
Cook up a small picnic ham. Save the water.
Dice up 10 lbs potatoes in a meat grinder. Chop up the ham and dice through the meat grinder. Chop up the onion very fine. Add the onion, 1 TBSP salt, 1 TBSP baking powder to the potato/ham mixture. Roll in flour to make a patty. Boil the ham water. Drop the potato patties into the water and cook for 20 min. Serve with butter.
Norwegian and proud of it.