Verðbólga á Íslandi

Inflation in Iceland

In Iceland, too, people are suffering from rising inflation, where the inflation rate is currently just under 10%. Experts expect a further increase to up to 11% by the end of 2022.

Especially the extremely rising rent and real estate prices contribute to this high inflation, but also the general costs of living and the costs of food are rising and rising.

Meanwhile, there are calls from the public and also the Icelandic government to actively take action against rising inflation in the country.

Supermarket Krónan freezes prices for 240 products by the end of the year

In response to these appeals, the supermarket chain Krónan recently announced that it would freeze the prices of 240 products of the house brands "Krónan" and "First Price" by the end of the year.

The price freeze affects 240 products of daily use of the two companies mentioned, namely products from toilet paper, detergent, glass cleaner, soap and sanitary napkins to dog food and cat litter to food such as rice, oatmeal, cereals, meat, canned fruit, sour cucumbers, margarine, toast, baguette, chocolate, biscuits, ice cream and chips.

The products are all listed online - and in the store there are several shopping carts at the entrance, which are packed with exactly these 240 products. 

Other companies have also spoken on this subject. For example, Hirzlan, an office furniture store, also called for everyone to work together in the face of high inflation and promised not to increase product prices for the rest of 2022.

On the other hand, the managing director of the supermarket chain Bónus explained that the idea itself was a great initiative. However, Bónus will not freeze prices, but is working every day to avoid price increases as much as possible and to pass on any price reductions directly to customers. 

IKEA said, up to now they have not yet passed on the higher costs during the Covid pandemic and the associated supply chain problems to their customers over the past two years. The furniture store always publishes the catalogue for the next 12 months in September, which in fact also fixes the prices for this period. 

In August, inflation was "only" at 9.7% 

Currently, the statistical office published a report that inflation in Iceland was 9.7% in August, compared to 9.9% in July 2022. In particular, energy prices have fallen slightly and the demand for real estate decreased a bit (due to higher interest rates of the central bank).

This at least slows down inflation slightly. Whether it's a long-term trend or just a short-term recovery remains to be seen. 

Eplaterta með söxuðum möndlum

Apple pie with chopped almonds

Here once again, I present a recipe for an apple pie. Admittedly, my youngest son was not really enthusiastic about this cake because it was more apple than cake, he said. He is not completely wrong, the cake is definitely very appley - but I don't think that this is a disadvantage at all! 

Ingredients

5 - 6 apples

250 g soft butter

140 g brown sugar

2 eggs

250 g flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 pinch of salt

100 g chopped almonds

1 tsp cinnamon 

1 tsp icing sugar

Preparation

Peel the apples, remove the seeds and cut into pieces.

Then boil the apple pieces in hot water for 3 minutes.

Drain the water and let the apples cool down a little in a sieve.

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

In a bowl, stir the butter with the sugar until frothy.

Add two eggs one by one and mix.

Then add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix everything to a smooth dough.

Fill about half of the dough into a springform pan lined with baking paper and smooth it down.

Spread the cooked apple pieces on the dough and spread the remaining dough over the apple pieces.

Mix the chopped almonds in a small bowl with the cinnamon...

... and spread over the cake.

Bake the cake in a preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C) upper and lower heat for about 25 - 30 minutes (toothpick test!).

Remove the cake from the oven, let it cool briefly and seave the icing sugar over the cake while still warm.

Then let the cake cool down before taking it out of the pan. My experience: Getting the cake out of the pan too early is not a good idea! But a bit warm it tastes particularly delicious!

Enjoy your meal!

Lambaþríhyrningar með feta

Lamb triangles with feta 

Icelandic finger food - This time I baked puff pastries filled with minced lamb mince for our planned hiking tour.

By the way, finger food means "pinnamatur" in Icelandic, the word is also used for "appetizer". 

When shopping, however, I only had problems when I was searching for minced meat in our local supermarket - there was no fresh minced meat in the cold room, only hamburgers, so I looked in the freezers - and at first I found nothing, because I was looking for the wrong shape or packaging. 

But then we were successful: minced meat is sold frozen here in Iceland in "sausage form", there were optional pork, beef, horsemeat and mutton. So we bought a roll of "kindahack" (= chopped mutton) which I then thawed at home before baking. 

(My "minced sausage" had 635 g, for the lamb triangles that was a bit too much - well, doesn't matter, so our son got noodles wth minced meat for lunch!)

Ingredients

400 g minced lamb

1 - 2 Tbsp butter

1 onion

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp coarse sea salt

1/2 tsp pepper

70 g feta cheese

1 pack of puff pastry (425g)

1 egg yolk

Preparation

Melt the butter in a pan.

Peel the onion, cut it into small pieces...

... and fry in the butter and sprinkle with cumin.

Add the minced meat and fry well.

Season with salt and pepper.

Remove the pan from heat.

Cut the sheep's cheese into small pieces and mix with the fried mince.

Cut the puff pastry sheets into squares (approx. 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches resp. 6 x 6 cm).

Place one or two tablespoons of the meat mass on each square. Carefully fold the square so that a triangle is formed, and carefully squeeze the edges with a fork.

Place the dumplings on a baking tray lined with baking paper and brush with the yolk.

Bake the dumplings in a preheated oven at 400 °F (200 °C) upper and lower heat for about 10 to 15 minutes until the dumplings have turned golden brown. 

For our hike, we packed the lamb triangles in a box into our knapsack. - I'm sure you've already guessed where our hike took us, haven't you? 

Fiskur með ab-mjólk og pestó

Fish casserole with AB milk and pesto

Here once again a dish for the fast, uncomplicated Icelandic everyday cuisine - not spectacular, not elaborate, not even particularly beautiful - but definitely delicious!

For this dish, in addition to the AB milk, you can use ready-made pesto, depending on your taste green or red pesto, you can also mix both, just as you like.

Outside of Iceland, when AB milk is not available, I use plain yogurt instead of the AB milk. This is quite close to the original in taste.

Ingredients

800 g white fish

1 pinch of salt and pepper

500 ml AB milk (or yogurt)

1 glass of pesto

1 tsp chopped parsley

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 425 °F (220 °F) upper/lower heat. 

Place the fish in a refractory casserole dish, season with salt and pepper.

In a bowl, mix the AB milk with pesto...

... and then pour the mixture over the fish. 

Bake the fish in the oven at 425 °F (220 °F) upper and lower heat for about 20 minutes.

Serve the gratinated fish with rice.

Enjoy your meal!

Bananabrauð með súkkulaði

Banana bread

In my opinion, you can never have enough banana bread recipes... and the bread presented here is really nice and fluffy and delicious!

Banana bread has been very popular in Iceland since US soldiers had been stationed here on the island during World War II. They brought both to the contry: banana plants and recipes for banana bread. In greenhouses heated with geothermal energy, mainly in Hveragerði and the surrounding area, the plants thrive very well. 

In addition, banana bread is ideal as a "leftover utilization" for bananas that have already turned a little brown. 

Ingredients 

240 g flour

220 g brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp coarse sea salt

4 ripe (browning) bananas

1 egg

2 - 3 Tbsp grated chocolate

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 180 °C upper/lower heat. 

In a large bowl, mix the flour thoroughly with sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 

Peel and puree the bananas.

Add the egg to the banana puree...

... and, in portions, stir in the dry ingredients to the moist mass.

Finally, add the grated chocolate and stir. 

Grease a loaf pan or line it with baking paper. Fill in the dough...

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

 

Let the sweet bread cool down a bit and enjoy!

Uppáhaldskanilsnúðar mínir

My favorite cinnamon rolls

Have you also noticed that some of your recipes change over time? 

I have tried out many different recipes for Icelandic cinnamon rolls in my life. But somehow I got stuck on a basic recipe that I have been baking for 15 years for almost every school or kindergarden party of one of our children as well as for birthday parties  in our family. Cinnamon rolls are always welcome!  

But even this basic recipe has undergone some changes over the last 10 years. I picked up some ideas from other cinnamon roll recipes. In addition, I bake vegan more and more often, especially for parties, simply because most people can eat it - and here I find the vegan version perfect in terms of taste!

Originally, the recipe was with wheat flour and milk. I quickly replaced the wheat flour with spelt flour. Instead of milk from the cow, I now take (after using oat milk, then almond milk and finally almond-vanilla milk) soy-based vanilla milk. And compared to the original basic recipe, there is more melted margarine here, so the dough simply becomes much smoother, easier to process and also becomes wonderfully crispy when baked. 

I baked these cinnamon rolls recently for the school class of child no. 4 - and they were really well appreciated by everyone. We kept a part for the rest of the family - and especially child no. 2 and his girlfriend really raved about this cinnamon roll version with the highest praises. 

Ingredients

850 g white spelt flour (or pastry flour)

1/2 tsp salt

150 g brown sugar

1 pkg dry yeast

500 ml lukewarm vanilla soy milk

180 g melted margarine

80 g brown sugar

20 g cinnamon

1/2 tsp cardamom

Preparation

In a large bowl, mix the flour with salt, brown sugar and dry yeast. 

First stir in the lukewarm vanilla milk and then knead the melted margarine into the dough. 

Cover the dough and let it rise for at least half an hour. 

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

In a small bowl, mix the sugar with the cinnamon and cardamom.

Then divide the yeast dough into three portions and roll out between two sheets of baking paper nice and thin (rectangular, about 25 x 40 cm).

Spread 1/3 of the sugar-cinnamon-cardamom mixture on each of the three rolled-out dough pieces. Then carefully roll up the dough over the long side.

Using a sharp knife, cut the rolls into slices about 1/2 inch (1 cm) thick.

Then place the cinnamon rolls on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake in the preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C) upper/lower heat for about 10 - 15 minutes until they have turned golden brown.

Let it cool down a bit and then enjoy!

P.S.: 

I like to bake my cinnamon rolls relatively small, so that you can snack on them alongside other cakes without feeling full. Of course, the baking time depends on the size - my small cinnamon rolls here need about 10 minutes in the oven, larger ones rather 15 to 20 minutes or even more (although of course it also depends on the oven). So it's best to start with 10 minutes of baking time and then see if the rolls are already deliciously browned or can tolerate a little more time in the oven.