Hi again guys, and sorry for the very late reply.
Thanks to your help I was able to find my way further along and have spent the past few weeks talking with places like my local CAA and flight schools as well as flight schools in the US, asking them some more specific questions based on your insights.
I have learned that there is no way to credit an FAA PPL to an EASA license without the 100 hours as PIC.
I have also learned that doing EASA theory and crediting it to skip parts of the FAA curriculum is not possible as you need the endorsement for the FAA written. If not doing the FAA theory while in the states I have seen plenty of promising remote courses which will get me there without spending much of my few months abroad buried in books, like BobD suggested..
Based on this I'm now leaning towards extending my stay in the US to get my 100 hours once I'm over there to begin with. That is, if I can find an appealing flight school in a part of the country somewhat resemblant of Scandinavian terrain. Then just do the very cheap and straight forward credited conversion when back in Norway (and make sure to get some good lessons adjusting to the Norwegian terrain which I understand the instructors are very used to doing here).
If for some reason that shouldn't pan out I'll consider the suggestions of doing the EASA PPL and then find some other excuse to go flying in the states at some point (hour building, or just simply going the easier route of crediting the EASA license for an FAA one).
Either way, I have a lot of researching (and saving up) to do before reaching a final decision, and will surely be posting more here with specific questions as they come up.
Until then, thanks for the input. I have read each of your posts several times now, and though I don't think I'll be answering all of them separately they have been most helpful.
I am still very open to more suggestions such as recommended flight schools in the Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico area or any other tips you might have.
And a last hail-mary; is there absolutely no way to make money while also building flight hours if I don't have my CPL?