Kanillengja með marsípani

Cinnamon stick with marzipan

Basically, this pastry is, to quote my husband, "just a cinnamon roll, just a little different." That's actually true!

And also just the right thing to snuggle up on the sofa at home when the weather is uncomfortable with warm yeast biscuits with lots of cinnamon and a delicious hot drink...

Ingredients

80 g butter

300 ml milk

1/2 pack dry yeast

500 g flour

50 g brown sugar

1 pinch of salt

1/2 tsp cardamom

1 tsp tasteless oil

80 g soft butter

100 g brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1 pinch of ground vanilla

150 g marzipan

1 egg yolk

2 - 3 tsp powdered sugar

Preparation

Slowly heat the butter and milk in a saucepan and stir again and again until a fairly uniform liquid is formed.

Add the dry yeast, mix thoroughly and let stand for about 5 minutes.

In a bowl, mix the flour with the sugar, salt and cardamom...

...and add the butter-milk-yeast mixture in portions...

...and knead thoroughly until a smooth dough is formed (if necessary, add a little flour if the dough is still too sticky). Form a ball out of the dough.

Add the oil to the bowl, roll the dough ball through the oil and then cover and let it rise for about 1 hour until the dough has doubled in volume.

For the filling, mix the butter with the brown sugar and cinnamon.

Then cut the marzipan into pieces and mix it with the butter-sugar-cinnamon mixture.

Then roll out the dough to about the size of a baking tray.

Spread the middle third of the dough with the filling.

Then cut the dough evenly into diagonal strips on the right and left and place them alternately over the filling on both sides.

Cover and let rest for another 30 minutes.

After about 20 minutes, switch on the oven and preheat it to 350 °F (180 °C) upper and lower heat.

Whisk the egg yolk and brush it on the cinnamon stick, then sprinkle with the powdered sugar.

Bake in a preheated oven at approx. 350 °F (180 °C) upper and lower heat for about 20 to 25 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Take the pastry out of the oven, let it cool briefly and then enjoy it lukewarm.

[Translated from here.]

Uppáhaldsorð: Lyftiduft

My favorite Icelandic word: baking powder

One of my absolute favorite words in Icelandic is “lyftiduft”. It's the Icelandic word for "baking powder." So it's actually quite mundane - but it somehow sounds like a good mood, at least when I pronounce it: Lyfti scent.

Literally translated, “lyftiduft” simply means “lifting powder”. Finally, you add it when baking to "lift" the dough with the powder. Yes, that is fine...

In Iceland, this baking powder is sold in cardboard boxes with a plastic bag containing 200 g. I always brought this with me from Iceland, simply because it looks so beautifully Icelandic in photos!

I've now bought this in a tin - it looks pretty in the kitchen, don't you think?! Anyway, I like it!

[Translated from here.]

Gullkaka

Gold cake

This cake with a thick layer of coconut flakes on top is known in Iceland as " gullkaka " (= " gold cake ") or also as "sjónvarpskaka" (= "television cake").

I had already baked a TV cake in a springform pan a while ago, and here I tried out a sheet cake version. Also delicious! Yesterday we spent a very cozy evening with our two older sons in front of the TV...

Ingredients

3 eggs

200 g sugar

100 ml milk

2 Tbsp melted butter

180 g flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 pinch of ground vanilla

3 Tbsp butter

5 Tbsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp milk

200 g coconut flakes

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C) upper/lower heat.

In a large bowl, first mix the eggs with the sugar until frothy.

Stir in the milk and melted butter.

Add the flour, baking powder and ground vanilla and mix everything into a smooth dough.

Place the dough in a baking paper-lined form (my form here is 24 cm x 35 cm) and bake in a preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C) on the middle shelf for about 20 minutes.

During this time prepare the covering:

Put the butter, brown sugar and milk in a saucepan and heat.

Add the coconut flakes to the liquid mixture and bring to the boil, stirring constantly.

When the dough has baked in the oven for 20 minutes, take the cake out of the oven, spread it with the coconut mixture...

...and let it bake for another 10 minutes at 350 °F (180 °C) upper and lower heat.

Let the cake cool slightly, carefully remove it from the tin and cut it into pieces.

Bon appetit!

[Translated from here.]

Þristaís

Þristur ice cream

Þristur is an Icelandic chocolate bar with a filling of soft caramel and small pieces of licorice.

I love these soft chocolate bars with their delicious licorice flavor - and I also love using them in the kitchen. For example, I once made a licorice cheese cake with it in the summer.

Ingredients

500 ml H cream

100 g brown sugar

250 g Þristur chocolate bars

250 g milk

1 pinch of ground vanilla or 1 tsp vanilla sugar

300 ml whipping cream

2 Tbsp licorice sprinkles

Preparation

First put the heavy cream with the brown sugar in a pot, bring to the boil and reduce by about half while stirring repeatedly. Then let the mixture cool down.

Thoroughly chop 2/3 of the Þristur chocolate.

Mix the milk with the reduced sugar-cream mixture, the chopped chocolate, the grated chocolate and the ground vanilla or vanilla drops.

Meanwhile, melt the remaining 1/3 of Þristur chocolate with 50 ml of whipping cream in a saucepan. Stir frequently while the sauce thickens.

Now whip the 250 ml of cream until stiff and carefully fold it into the milk-chocolate mixture.

Pour half of the cream-milk-chocolate mixture into a suitable loaf pan and pour half of the sauce over it.

Pour the remaining ice cream mixture over it and pour over the remaining sauce.

Then cover the ice cream with foil or something similar and let it freeze in the freezer overnight.

The next day, let it thaw slightly, portion it out and serve sprinkled with the licorice sprinkles.

[Translated from here.]

Kanilsnúðaís

Cinnamon Roll Ice Cream

The Reykjavík bakery Brauð & Co bakes pretty much the best cinnamon rolls you can imagine.

I was correspondingly happy when they posted a recipe for cinnamon rolls to bake yourself on their Instagram account at the end of November 2021; Of course I tried it out straight away and was really thrilled with the result! I think I've baked cinnamon rolls using this recipe three times in the last month.

For Christmas I tried a "cinnamon roll ice cream" as a dessert, basically (more or less) the marzipan-cinnamon mixture that is actually spread on the yeast dough, simply mixed with vanilla skyr and then frozen. And then served with a fresh cinnamon roll as dessert on Christmas Eve. A bit unusual, with the butter in the ice cream, and quite filling - but tasty and nice and creamy. My cinnamon roll fans at home were really impressed with the attempt.

Ingredients

200 g brown sugar

200 g soft butter

200 g marzipan

40 g ground cinnamon

700 ml vanilla skyr

Preparation

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix the sugar with the softened butter, marzipan and ground cinnamon.

Then add the vanilla skyr and mix everything into a uniform mixture.

Then fill the mixture into a suitable mold or small dessert glasses and let it freeze in the freezer for at least 4 hours.

Then serve well chilled - we added some cream and coffee spice on the ice cream and a cinnamon roll on the side.

[Translated from here.]