Ástarhringur

Love ring

Here is a recipe for a very tasty, fluffy cake ring with caramel icing. I served the cake with some whipped cream for those who wanted it.

By the way, I sprinkled a little coffee spice on the glaze for the taste and, above all, for the look. If you like, you can of course really let off steam, from colorful chocolate sprinkles to brittle to salted caramel fudge - there are no limits to your imagination!

Ingredients

250 g soft butter

250 g brown sugar

250 g flour

1 tsp baking powder

4 eggs

200 ml whipping cream

120 g soft butter

80 g brown sugar

1 pinch of ground vanilla

Preparation

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

In a large bowl, mix the soft butter with the sugar, flour and baking powder.

Separate the eggs.

Add the egg yolk directly to the dough and mix.

Beat the egg white until stiff and then carefully fold it into the dough.

Place in a well-greased round shape or lined with baking paper (either a Bundt cake tin or similar or a springform pan with an additional shape for the cutout in the middle)...

...and bake for about 35 minutes until the dough is well baked (test with a toothpick!). Then let it cool down.

For the caramel glaze, put all the ingredients (cream, butter, sugar and vanilla) in a saucepan and bring to the boil.

Then let it slowly reduce over medium-high, stirring constantly, until the glaze thickens (let it simmer for about 10 minutes).

Let the glaze cool slightly.

Finally, spread the icing on the cake in several layers.

If necessary, let the glaze set in the refrigerator and then serve.

Oh, the cake is baked with baking powder - what do you think of these colorful tin cans here? Always the same pattern, but with different colors, and then labeled with "flórsykur" (= powdered sugar), "lyftiduft" (= baking powder), "kakó" (= cocoa) etc.

In fact, the cans are simply sales packaging from the Icelandic company Katla, which specializes in baking items, among other things. I've never seen the can in the supermarket, I have no idea if they're even still on sale, but I'm always happy when I buy one from this range in Selfoss or Reykjavík for 200 or 300 crowns (just under €2). Find a second hand store. I just think they are so beautiful!

Bon appetit!

[Translated from here.]

Boxing day: The leftovers of our Plokkfiskur...

...then went into these fish cakes.

We recently had plokkfiskur , this typical Icelandic pounded fish. But we were less hungry people than planned in the short term, so half was left. I then used these leftovers into fish cakes the next evening.

As a side dish we had some Plokkfiskur, this time baked with plenty of cheese. And fried onions on the side - I love fried onions!

Ingredients

500 g Plokkfiskur

1/2 onion

60 g flour

2 Tbsp grated Parmesan

1 pinch of coarse sea salt

1 pinch of ground pepper

1 egg

2 Tbsp breadcrumbs

oil for frying

Preparation

Peel the onion and chop it finely.

Place the plokkfiskur in a bowl and add the onion pieces, flour, grated cheese, salt and pepper and the egg. Knead everything into a thick dough.

Then form small balls out of the dough with your hands.

Place the breadcrumbs on a plate and coat the fish balls in them.

Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the fish balls in the hot fat.

Then serve with fresh salad or something similar.

Or simply gratinated plokkfiskur and fried onions, like we do here. It doesn't look particularly pretty, but it's hearty, hearty and warming for body and soul.

[Translated from here.]

And another knitting project...

Shoulder warmer "Two Cats"

Recently, I showed you a knitting project: a shoulder warmer with the Hallgrímskirkja tower as a pattern. Made from Léttlopi wool, it's nice and warm.

I thought a little further along these lines, and the result was another shoulder warmer, this time made of Plötulopi wool, thinner and much lighter. But still nice and warm.

May I introduce you? These are Ágúst and Ský, a friend's two cats. They served as my template for the pattern for the new shoulder warmer—it's a gift, actually.

I like the new shoulder warmer so much that I definitely want to knit one myself using Plötulopi wool. Let's see what pattern I choose...

Well, I really like this birthday present!

[Translated from here.]

Gerlausir kanilsnúðar

Cinnamon rolls (without yeast dough)

I think you can never have enough cinnamon roll recipes. I posted an overview of various cinnamon roll recipes here on the blog in 2019, with very different variations. And since then I've tried and baked even more cinnamon rolls...

Here I have a version for crispy cinnamon rolls, a recipe without yeast but with baking powder and egg. Not soft, like yeast dough rolls, rather crunchy and intensely cinnamony. It definitely tastes very good to me and was well received by my children too!

Ingredients

125 g brown sugar

500 g flour

120 g margarine

2 tsp baking soda

1 egg

1 pinch of cardamom

100 ml milk

Margarine for spreading

sugar cinnamon

Preparation

All ingredients for the dough are placed in a large bowl and kneaded.

Divide the dough into two portions.

Then roll out each portion of dough into a rectangle on a floured surface, on baking paper or similar,

...spread with margarine and sprinkle with sugar cinnamon,,,

... and then roll it up along the long side.

Then cut the roll into slices and place it on a baking tray lined with baking paper...

...and bake in a preheated oven at 400 °F (200 °C) for about 15 to 20 minutes until the cinnamon rolls are golden brown.

Bon appetit!

[Translated from here.]

Jarðarberja ostamús

Strawberry cheese mousse

Fresh Icelandic strawberries in fresh Icelandic landscape...

In Iceland, strawberries grow in greenhouses all year round. The greenhouses here are powered by geothermal energy, otherwise there would be no strawberries in Iceland or they would have to be imported at great expense.

Ingredients for 6 servings

Ingredients for the soil

120 g cookies

30 g melted butter

Ingredients for the mousse

200 g strawberries

250 g cream cheese

80 g powdered sugar

200 ml whipping cream

Ingredients for the topping

100 g dark chocolate

50 ml whipping cream

2 Tbsp light syrup

optionally spices (e.g. vanilla, coffee spice, etc.)

Whipped cream and fresh strawberries for decoration

Preparation

For the base, crumble the cookies, e.g. place them in a small plastic bag, breakfast bag or similar and carefully crush them with a rolling pin.

Mix the biscuit crumbs with the melted butter and spread the mixture into the bottom of the dessert glasses.

For the mousse, clean and puree the strawberries.

Beat the whipping cream with 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar until stiff.

Mix the strawberry mixture with the cream cheese and the remaining powdered sugar for the mousse.

Then carefully fold in the whipped cream.

Pour the mousse into the glasses and chill in the refrigerator.

Heat the cream for the topping in a small saucepan, break the chocolate into pieces and let it slowly melt in the cream.

Add the syrup and ground vanilla, coffee spice or similar to taste and mix thoroughly until a smooth, somewhat liquid mixture is formed (if necessary, add a little more syrup or cream if the mixture is too thick).

Pour the chocolate cream in the glasses over the strawberry-cheese mousse.

Clean fresh strawberries to taste...

...and decorate the strawberry mousse with whipped cream, fresh strawberries and chocolate shavings to taste.

Serve the dessert well chilled.

Bon appetit!

[Translated from here.]