Súkkulaðikaka með kremi

Chocolate cake with cream

Oh, sometimes it just has to be chocolate...

It is probably not historically certain how long there has been chocolate in Iceland. It is said that for the first time in 1780 an Icelandic student from Copenhagen reported in a letter about "chócolade-drykkur", i.e. a "chocolate drink". But it wasn't until the middle of the 19th century that hot chocolate became more popular as a drink in Iceland, albeit as a drink for adults, as it tasted relatively bitter. The Síríus company then imported the first chocolate from Denmark to Iceland in 1896, later bought by the Icelandic confectionery company Nói hf. The Síríus chocolate factory in Copenhagen opened and from 1933 chocolate was also produced in Iceland.

In addition to the chocolate from Nói Síríus, I can also recommend the chocolate from the Icelandic company Omnom.

Ingredients

4 eggs

150 g brown cane sugar

200 g dark chocolate (70%)

200 g butter

100 g spelled flour

100 g butter

100 g dark chocolate (70%)

2 - 3 Tbsp honey

Preparation

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

Beat the eggs with the sugar until foamy.

Then slowly melt the dark chocolate and butter in a water bath.

Then mix the cooled chocolate-butter mixture with the egg-sugar mixture.

Add the flour and stir into a smooth dough.

Then put the finished dough into a springform pan lined with baking paper...

...and bake in a preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C) upper and lower heat for about 35 minutes.

Melt the butter for the chocolate cream in a small saucepan.

Roughly chop the chocolate, add it to the melted butter along with the honey and let it melt, stirring constantly, until you have a nice, uniform cream.

Let the chocolate cream cool slightly and then pour it onto the cake.

Then let the cake stand at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours so that the cream sets a little, and then serve. We had whipped cream and fresh strawberries with it!

Please keep the leftover cake well cooled - but if you put the cake in the fridge right before serving for the first time, I think the chocolate cream looks a bit different, and the cream then becomes quite solid.

[Translated from here.]

Rækjusalat

Crab salad

I really enjoy eating crabs, but unfortunately the rest of my family doesn't. That's why we rarely have a dish with crab - but I really wanted to try this recipe for a crab salad, it sounded so wonderfully simple! We also had it with freshly baked bread for dinner - so no one had to eat crab salad if they didn't want to.

Child no. 3 also approached very hesitantly with a "Gee, that looks disgusting!", but tried a small spoonful of the crab salad on his bread, thought about it - then took another small spoonful and said: "This tastes right for crabs yummy!"

I'll take that as a compliment...!

Ingredients

50 g mayonnaise

200 g pure Skyr

3 hard-boiled eggs

250 g crabs

1/2 organic lemon

1 pinch of pepper

1/2 tsp coarse sea salt

1 tsp dill tips

Preparation

In a large bowl, stir the mayonnaise with the skyr until creamy.

Peel the hard-boiled, cold eggs and cut them lengthwise and crosswise into small pieces using an egg cutter.

Then add the egg pieces to the skyr mixture with the shrimp.

Grate the lemon over it and then add a tablespoon of lemon juice.

Season with salt, pepper and dill and mix everything thoroughly.

By the way, I used coarse sea salt with sea algae here to emphasize the taste of the sea. I think next time I'll try birch smoke salad or maybe some fried bacon!

[Translated from here.]

Bláberjaostakaka

Blueberry Cheesecake

My husband still eats as low-carbohydrate as possible. So I adapt as much as possible and, for example, baked a blueberry cheesecake with almond flour for the weekend.

It actually tastes very tasty - and it looks pretty too with the purple blueberries that are sprinkled into the cheese mixture!

Ingredients

100 g almond flour
50 g ground hazelnuts
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 pinch of sea salt
80 g butter

500 g cream cheese

2 eggs

120 g powdered sugar

1 pinch of ground vanilla

1 Tbsp grated lemon peel

100 g fresh blueberries

Preparation

In a bowl, knead the almond flour with the ground nuts, sugar, salt and soft butter into a smooth dough.

Then put the dough into a springform pan lined with baking paper, press it down carefully with a moistened spoon and bake in a preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C) for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, stir the fresh cheese with the eggs, powdered sugar, ground vanilla and grated lemon peel until frothy.

Then pour the mixture onto the cake base and add the fresh, washed blueberries to the cake...

...and then bake the cake for 40 - 50 minutes at 350 °F (180 °C) upper and lower heat (test with a toothpick!).

Then take the cake out of the oven, let it cool completely and then carefully remove the cake from the tin and serve well chilled.

Bon appetit!

[Translated from here.]

Kóríander-Kjúklingur

Cilantro chicken

When I use coriander in Icelandic recipes, I always think of the Icelandic chef, television chef and author Magnús Ingi Magnússon. Unfortunately he passed away in November 2019.

We met him when we ate at his restaurant Sjávarbarinn in Reykjavík in the summer of 2018. Back then, he raved to us about how much he liked adding coriander to his dishes. But unfortunately his regular customers had no idea and insisted that their plokkfiskur and fiskibollur must continue to taste exactly the way they had learned these dishes from their grandmother as a child. But at least he could add his beloved coriander to his absolutely delicious seafood soup...

In any case, I like to use coriander sometimes - and think of Magnús with a smile.

I tried a recipe for coriander chicken here.

Ingredients

1 bunch of coriander
1 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 kg chicken fillet
2 Tbsp oil
1 can of coconut milk


Preparation

Cut the chicken into medium sized pieces.

Heat the oil in a pan and briefly fry the chicken on all sides.

Put the coriander, salt, pepper and lemon juice together in the blender and puree.

Then pour the coriander mixture over the meat.

Pour in the coconut milk and simmer over low heat for about 20 - 30 minutes.

Then sprinkle the food with some fresh coriander and serve with rice or barley.

[Translated from here.]

Epla og kanil skyrdrykkur

Apple cinnamon skyr drink

In everyday life, we often only have a little something between breakfast and dinner. I especially love Skyr drinks in a wide variety of variations (especially in summer). Here, for example, a skyr drink with banana, apple and cinnamon - and a handful of almonds, which gives a particularly nice "mouthfeel" for my taste.

And I love cinnamon in every situation anyway!

Ingredients for 2 people

450 g vanilla skyr

1 banana

1 apple

2 Tbsp honey

1 handful of almonds

1/2 tsp cinnamon

4 - 6 ice cubes

Preparation

Peel the fruit and quarter the apple, core it and cut it into pieces.

Then put all the ingredients except the ice cubes in a blender and puree thoroughly until you get a nice, uniform drink.

Then add the ice cubes to the drink and serve immediately.

[Translated from here.]

Skyr drykkur með karamellusósu

Skyr drink with caramel sauce

Sometimes I don't even feel like standing in the kitchen and baking cakes for the weekend - or sometimes I just want something quick and delicious.

This skyr drink with caramel sauce is definitely a nice, sweet refreshment.

Ingredients for 2 servings

350 g vanilla skyr

100 g vanilla ice cream

50 g cold, strong coffee

1 tsp cinnamon

whipping cream

caramel sauce

chocolate shavings or similar

Preparation

Put the vanilla skyr with the ice, the cold coffee and the cinnamon in a blender and puree thoroughly.

Then pour directly into the glasses, decorate with whipped cream, caramel sauce and chocolate shavings as desired and serve immediately.

[Translated from here.]

Möndluterta með súkkulaðimús

Almond cake with chocolate cream

Do you also have days like this where things just don't work?

Here it started quite harmlessly - the baking powder had smuggled itself onto the ingredients picture without authorization, but I only noticed this when I had already cracked the eggs and the ground almonds were mixed and the chocolate was already in the water bath with the butter melted away, I could no longer recreate the before picture.

But when I wanted to whip the cream, I was surprised at some point, it didn't and didn't solidify...?!? Well, then I realized that I had gotten cooking cream instead of whipping cream. So go back and get the real cream... it really wasn't my day!

But the cake still tastes really good!

Ingredients

For the ground

4 egg whites
200 g brown sugar
200 g ground almonds

For the cream

50 g butter
150 g dark chocolate
4 egg yolks
60 g powdered sugar
120ml whipping cream


Preparation

Preheat the oven to 325 °F (160 °C) upper/lower heat.

Separate the eggs.

For the cake base, beat the egg whites until stiff, then carefully fold in the sugar and ground almonds and mix everything into a nice dough.

Pour the dough into a springform pan lined with baking paper (approx. 24 cm in diameter), smooth it out...

...and bake in a preheated oven at 325 °F (160 °C) upper and lower heat for about 30 minutes until the base is beautifully golden brown (test with a toothpick!).

Then take the base out of the oven and let it cool down very well.

For the cream, carefully melt the butter and chocolate in a water bath.

Mix the egg yolks with the powdered sugar...

...and fold in the chocolate-butter mixture.

Whip the cream until stiff and fold in carefully.

Now pour the cream onto the floor and smooth it out...

...and decorate with fresh fruit to taste.

Then put the cake in the cold for at least 4 hours until the cream has set somewhat.

Then serve the cake well chilled, with fresh cream and fresh fruit to taste. Bon appetit!

[Translated from here.]