Gulrótarmúffur

Carrot muffins

I've been a passionate fan of Icelandic carrot cake for a long time and have tried different versions of it. This time I baked carrot muffins for a change, definitely recommended!

The dough was enough for me for 22 muffins.


Ingredients

3 eggs
380 g brown sugar
200 g margarine
160 ml milk
380 g flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 pinch of ground vanilla
400 g carrots

200 g cream cheese
100 g powdered sugar
1 tsp grated orange peel

1 Tbsp chopped nuts/pistachios or similar


Preparation

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

Mix the eggs with the sugar until foamy.

Melt the margarine.

Mix the melted margarine and milk with the egg-sugar mixture.

Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and vanilla and mix everything thoroughly.

Peel the carrots and grate them as finely as possible.

Then fold the grated carrots into the dough.

Pour the batter into the muffin cups...

...and bake in a preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C) for about 25 minutes until the muffins are golden brown.

Let the muffins cool slightly.

Then for the glaze, mix the cream cheese with the powdered sugar and the grated orange peel...

...and decorate the muffins with it. If you like, add chopped nuts, pistachios, etc. on top for decoration - if you like, even marzipan carrots like I did here.

Min. Chill in the fridge for 2 hours to allow the glaze to firm up a little, then serve.

[Translated from here.]

Eplaskyrsþeytingur

Apple Skyr Smoothie

In these crappy times I definitely need some extra vitamins, so I tried this Skyr mixed drink with apple and celery. Actually, I'm not a real fan of celery, but the drink was actually really tasty!


Ingredients for 2 servings

500 g pure Skyr
100 ml sparkling water
2 green apples
2 sticks of celery
1 Tbsp honey
1 tsp cinnamon


Preparation

Wash, peel and core the apples and cut them into pieces.

Clean and roughly chop the celery stalks.

Then add all ingredients to the blender and puree thoroughly.

Then serve the drink straight away.

[Translated from here.]

Bóndadóttir með blæju

Farmer's daughter with veil

This recipe for a "veiled farm girl" can be found everywhere in Northern Europe, whether it's called "Buerndeern mit Sleier" in North Frisia, "Bondepige med slør" in Denmark or "Tilslørte bondepiker" in Norway. Of course, there are certain variations everywhere, depending on the family recipe and taste preferences. Here I introduce you to my Icelandic version - with rye bread, apple compote and rhubarb compote.

For rye bread I used pumpernickel, it works really well.


Ingredients for 2 servings

125 g pumpernickel
40 g butter
2 Tbsp brown sugar
140 g rhubarb compote
140 g apple compote
50 g vanilla skyr
50 g whipping cream


Preparation

Melt the butter in a large skillet.

Carefully grate the pumpernickel.

Add the grated pumernickel and brown sugar to the melted butter in the pan...

...and fry for several minutes until the breadcrumbs are crispy.

Then set aside and let cool thoroughly.

Then pour the ingredients into the dessert glasses in layers - I started with the breadcrumbs, then rhubarb compote, skyr, again breadcrumbs and apple compote and finally the remaining breadcrumbs.

Then decorate with the whipped cream and fresh berries and let it sit in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

Bon appetit - verði ykkur að góðu!

[Translated from here.]

Hvítkálssúpa

White cabbage soup

Until now I had certain reservations about cabbage soup - completely wrong, as I have just discovered. This cabbage soup here was really delicious!


Ingredients

1 head of white cabbage
2 large potatoes
2 onions
1.5 l vegetable broth
200 ml cream
1 tsp caraway
1 tsp salt


Preparation

Wash and clean the cabbage and cut it into thin strips.

Wash the potatoes and, like the onions, peel them and cut them into pieces.

In a large pot, bring the vegetable stock to a boil, add the chopped vegetables and cook until the cabbage is tender, about 15 minutes.

Then puree thoroughly.

Pour in the cream and stir...

...season to taste with salt and caraway.

Well then - bon appetit!

[Translated from here.]

Kryddkaka með súkkulaði

Spice cake with chocolate

On the first day of the old Icelandic winter month of Þorri, Husbands' Day, bóndadagur, is traditionally celebrated in Iceland. This year the bóndadagur was on January 25th and we baked a spice cake with chocolate for our best husband, father and now even grandfather - it tasted good!

Oh, I used some winter spice in the glaze for a wintery taste. The spice mixture mainly contained cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and ginger. Of course, you can also just add a spice and mix it yourself. But with a pinch of spice the cake tastes a little more intense.


Ingredients

2 eggs
200 g brown sugar
200 g margarine
380 g wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baker's yeast
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 Tbsp baking cocoa
250 ml milk

220 g powdered sugar
2 Tbsp baking cocoa
1/2 tsp winter spice
3 - 4 Tbsp warm water


Preparation

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

In a large bowl, beat eggs, sugar and margarine until fluffy.

Then add the solid ingredients and stir in.

Finally, pour in the milk and mix everything into a smooth dough.

Then put the dough into a baking pan lined with baking paper (approx. 26 - 28 cm in diameter) and smooth it out.

Then bake the cake at 350 °F (180 °C) upper and lower heat for about 25 minutes until the cake passes the toothpick test.

Take the cake out of the oven, let it cool briefly and if necessary, if it is very uneven at the top (like mine here), straighten it a little.

Mix the ingredients for the glaze...

...and spread it over the cake and decorate it to taste.

Besti pabbi & afi!

The best dad and grandpa!

[Translated from here.]

Rófusúpa

Beet soup

Turnips are really typical winter vegetables, so they are perfect for real winter cuisine! However, my turnips were extremely large; in the picture I put a vegetable onion next to them for comparison. (I only used one of my giant beets for the soup recipe, that was enough!)


Ingredients for 4 persons

2 - 3 turnips
1 - 2 onions
1 Tbsp butter
600 ml vegetable broth or similar
100 ml milk
1 pinch of salt
1 pinch of pepper
150 g blue cheese


Preparation

Slowly melt the butter in a large pot.

Peel and dice the onions.

Briefly fry the onions in the butter.

Clean, peel and chop the beets.

Add the chopped beets to the pot and fry briefly.

Add the vegetable stock and simmer over medium heat for about 30 minutes until the beet pieces have become nice and soft.

Then puree the whole thing thoroughly.

Pour in the milk and season with salt and pepper.

Cut the blue cheese into small cubes, add it to the soup and stir in briefly.

Then serve immediately.

Here's a picture of the "making of" - but I wanted to

I love taking photos of my winter kitchen in the snow in the garden!

With that in mind: bon appetit!

[Translated from here.]