What will happen next?

You're missing the contents? It will come.

During the next months we will translate recipes from our German blog. We intend to provide you with 2 or 3 recipes per week. New recipes will be posted on both blogs in parallel.

But the first step is going to be our Advent calendar. Starting on December 1st, you can open one virtual window every day. What's behind the windows? Lots of Icelandic Christmas recipes, of course. But also a bit about Icelandic Christmas traditions.

I hope you will enjoy our Advent calendar!

Here we go!

Today we start with our blog "Yummy Iceland". Here we'd like to present Icelandic cuisine.

In 2004 we traveled to Iceland for the first time. It was great, and we immediately fell in love with this country. Since then, we have traveled to Iceland again and again. But it was not only the landscape, the volcanoes, the geysers, the waterfalls and so on that we were fascinated by. We also learned about Icelandic cooking.

You may have heard about Hákarl, the rotten Greenland shark. This is a classic Icelandic speciality. But it is really hardcore and often offered to tourists on a dare. This is not what we want to present here. We want to show "normal" Icelandic cuisine. Recipes which you can try at home. Maybe you want to recall memories of your last trip to Iceland. Maybe you're simply interested in tasty food from an interesting country.

Two and a half years ago we started our blog in German: "Islandfan-Kochbuch". Meanwhile we have not only provided more than 300 recipes in that blog, but we also published a cookbook: "Leckeres Island - das goße Koch- und Backbuch". Some people asked for English translations of our book and our recipes. So we decided to give it a try: here it is! Sorry for our poor English. But we hope you'll enjoy it even so.

That's us: Ursula and Markus. She's cooking, he's eating.

Jólamúffur

Christmas muffins

Ingredients for 10 muffins

100 g dark chocolate
100 g walnuts
100 g dried dates  
3 eggs
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp maple syrup
3 Tbsp flour
1 tsp baking powder

100 g white chocolate
2 Tbsp whipping cream  
1 tsp cinnamon  


Preparation

Preheat the oven to 400 °F (200 °C) upper/lower heat.

Chop the dark chocolate, walnuts and dried dates.

Then put all the ingredients for the muffins in a large mixing bowl, mix thoroughly and stir into a smooth batter.
 

Then pour the mixture into paper cases...

...and bake at 400 °F (200 °C) upper and lower heat for about 20 minutes. Then let it cool down well.

To make the cream, melt the white chocolate in a water bath, stir in the whipping cream and cinnamon and spread the cream over the cooled muffins.

Gleðileg jól!

[Translated from here.]

Tómatsúpa

Quick Tomato Soup

Ingredients

40 g margarine
1 Tbsp flour
500 ml hot vegetable broth
2 Tbsp tomato paste
500 g chopped tomatoes
1 tsp salt
1 tsp thyme
1 pinch of pepper


Preparation

Heat the butter in a large saucepan, add the flour and beat with a whisk.

Add the hot vegetable broth in portions and always stir with a whisk until smooth.

Then add the tomato paste, then the chopped tomatoes to the hot pot and stir together.

Finally season with salt, thyme and pepper.

Personally, I thought it was very noticeable in this recipe that it dates back to the 1940s and that in Iceland they had meat or vegetable stock, but no fresh tomatoes. I then “spiced it up” with a can of corn and some Tabasco; it tasted very “post-war.” But spiced up it was good!

We then ate the soup in homemade Brauðskálar - a very nice experience!

Thanks for the tip! ;-)

[Translated from here.]

Brauðskálar

Soup cup bread

Ingredients for 4 bread bowls
 
650 ml lukewarm water
600 g ground flour
400 g wholemeal flour
30 g dry yeast
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp sea salt


Preparation

Put water, yeast and honey in a bowl, add salt and flour and knead everything well.

Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour until the dough has doubled in size.

Divide the dough into four parts, shape each into a round loaf and let it rise for another half hour covered on a baking tray lined with baking paper.

Preheat the oven to 450 °F (240 °C) upper/lower heat.

Put all four breads in the preheated oven, after 5 minutes reduce the heat to 400 °F (200 °C) upper and lower heat and bake for another 20 minutes.

Let the bread cool down a little, then cut off the top and hollow out the bread...

...and then use it as a “soup bowl”.

With the "Brauðskálar" we had a classic, albeit slightly "spiced up" tomato soup.



[Translated from here.]

Pylsubrauð

Hot dog buns

Ingredients
 
650 g flour  
1 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
400 ml lukewarm milk
2 eggs
50 g melted butter
1 pack of dry yeast

 
Preparation

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, salt and sugar.

Add milk and eggs and mix everything well.

Finally, add the melted butter and dry yeast and knead everything into a smooth dough.  

Then let the dough rise, covered under a damp cloth, in a warm place for about 1 hour, until the dough has roughly doubled in size.

Then, with floured hands, divide the dough into 12 equal parts, adding a little more flour if necessary until nothing sticks.

Then form the divided dough into a ball and then roll it out by hand to the length of the hot dog sausages.

Place on two baking trays lined with baking paper and let rise under a damp cloth for another 1.5 hours (or about 1 hour in the oven at max. 125 °F (50 °C)).

Then preheat the oven to 450 °F (230 °C) upper and lower heat, then reduce the heat to 400 °F (200 °C) and put the Pylsubrauð in the oven. Bake the two trays one after the other for about 10 to 12 minutes, until the hot dog buns are nice and golden.

The Pylsubrauð tastes best fresh...

And now - "eina með öllu!" -"one with everything!"

The still warm rolls now with warm hot dog sausages, fried onions, fresh onions, maybe some cucumber as well as the slightly sweet Pylsur mustard (at least I've already found Danish sweet hot dog mustard here in the supermarket!) and ketchup Serve decorated!

[Translated from here.]

Skyr eftirréttur

Skyr dessert

Today I brought the Milbona strawberry skyr from Lidl and spontaneously mixed together a "skyr eftirréttur", i.e. a skyr dessert, using "on-board supplies".


Ingredients for 3 people

2 cups of strawberry skyr (approx. 700 g)
100 g anise cookies
100 g white chocolate


Preparation

Crush the cookies thoroughly.

Chop the chocolate into 3/4 pieces, set the rest aside for later decoration.

Mix the cookie crumbs with the chopped chocolate.

Pour two tablespoons of the biscuit-chocolate crumbs into each dessert glass, then add a layer of strawberry skyr on top,...

...again biscuit-chocolate crumbs and strawberry skyr and finally a bit of the crumbs.

Melt the chocolate for decoration and carefully spread it over the chocolate cookie crumbs on top of the dessert.

Let it sit well in the fridge for at least 2 hours and serve as dessert.

[Translated from here.]

Bananaskyrterta

Banana Skyr Cake

Ingredients

...for the ground
 
250 g oatmeal cookies
140 g melted butter
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 pinch of salt

...for the filling

4 ripe bananas
700ml Skyr
2 Tbsp powdered sugar

50 g dark grated chocolate


Preparation

Preheat the oven to 400 °F (200 °C) upper/lower heat.

Crush the oatmeal cookies thoroughly in a breakfast bag or something similar, if necessary "work" them with a rolling pin until the biscuits are crumbled into nice and small pieces.

Mix with the melted butter, brown sugar and a pinch of salt...
 

...and place in a springform pan (approx. 24 cm in diameter) lined with baking paper, pressing firmly on the bottom and forming a slight edge if possible.

Then bake the whole thing in the oven for 10 minutes.

Then let the base cool thoroughly and carefully remove it from the mold.
 
Carefully cut three of the bananas in half and cover the cake base with them as evenly as possible.

 
Puree the fourth banana thoroughly, mix with the skyr and powdered sugar,...

...then spread evenly over the half bananas on the cake base.

Sprinkle with the grated chocolate...

...and let it sit in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving.

[Translated from here.]

The Taste of Nature - Blueberry Pie

Here is one of the recipes from my beloved Westfjords cookbook "West Fjords - A Culinary Journey." by Guðlaug Jónsdóttir and Karl Kristján Ásgeirsson - thank you again, Guðlaug, for allowing me to present this recipe from your book here!!!
 

Velkomin á Bláberjadaga í Súðavík!

Welcome to International Blueberry Festival in Súðavík!

The small fishing town of Sú ðavik (around 200 inhabitants) is located one fjord further around 20 km from Ísa fjörður and is in the middle of an absolute berry region. At the end of August, the "Bláberjadaga", the "International Blueberry Festival", takes place in this place. The festival features competitions in berry picking, blueberry pie eating and blueberry runs over various distances, as well as music events - always a big event for young and old!

Sú ðavik gained notoriety through an avalanche accident in the snowy winter of 1994/1995. Snow avalanches occur frequently in the area. A large avalanche on January 16, 1995 destroyed around 1/3 of the town and 14 residents were killed in the accident. The old location has been in an official danger zone ever since. The residents have built new houses towards the fjord and have essentially “moved” their location a little bit. The old houses, which can only be used in summer, now serve as summer houses.

polar fox

Deep sea fishing is mainly offered in Sú ðavik and the Melrakkasetur Íslands , the Icelandic Arctic Fox Center, is also located in Sú ðavik.

Recipe: Dagbjört's Blueberry Pie

At the Blueberry Days 2011, Dagbjört Hjaltadóttir won the competition for the tastiest blueberry dish, the recipe was published in the Westfjords cookbook with the consent of the winner and the organizers.


Ingredients

350 g wholemeal spelled flour
300 g brown sugar
50 g agave syrup
350 g coarse oat flakes
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
200 g soft butter

400 g fresh blueberries
2 Tbsp cane sugar


Preparation

In a large bowl, mix the flour with the sugar, syrup, oats, salt and cinnamon.

Mix the soft butter with the remaining ingredients and knead into coarse crumbles.

Put about half of the dough into a greased or baking pan lined with baking paper (diameter approx. 24 cm)...

...and press it loosely into the bottom of the mold.

Wash the blueberries, drain them and spread them on the base, then sprinkle with the cane sugar.

Pour the remaining streusel over the blueberries.

...and bake in a preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C) upper and lower heat for about 40 minutes.

Serve the blueberry pie with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream as dessert.

[Translated from here.]

Hnetusmjörskökur - vegan

Peanut butter cookies - the vegan version

Ingredients

240g peanut butter
240 g maple syrup
80 ml peanut oil
2 tsp vanilla
480 g wholemeal flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt


Preparation
 
Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C) upper/lower heat.
   
To make the dough, mix the peanut butter, maple syrup and peanut oil with the vanilla.

Add the wholemeal flour, baking powder and salt and knead carefully...

...and then let the dough stand for about 10 minutes.

Then form small balls out of the dough, place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper, leaving plenty of space between them, gently flatten them with a fork and bake them at 350 °F (180 °C) for about 10 minutes, until the cookies are lightly golden brown.

[Translated from here.]