Icelandic Donuts ~ Kleinur

I always enjoy sampling the traditional foods when visiting another country.  We were recently in Iceland and made sure we tried their Kleinur...a slightly sweet deep-fried bread which is rather like a twisted donut.  They are available in every bakery or coffee shop in the country.  I decided to give this Icelandic treat a taste-test in my own kitchen and I will share my version, which is quite similar to my Rollkuchen recipe. It is the addition of the aromatic spices (cardamom, nutmeg and cinnamon) that sets them apart.

• 4 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon each of cardamon, cinnamon, nutmeg (or use 1 1/2 teaspoons total of your favorite)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup sour cream (or plain yogurt)

1. Combine 4 cups flour with sugar, baking powder, salt and spices.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg, milk and sour cream. 
3. Add liquids to flour mixture and stir to incorporate.
4. Continue to add flour until a soft (but not sticky) dough is formed.
5. Divide dough into two balls and chill for at least 30 minutes.
6. Roll each piece out thin on a floured surface. Cut long strips about 2 inches wide and then cut diagonally across to for diamond-shaped pieces, using a pizza cutter or pastry wheel. Cut a small slit in the centre of each piece, and gently pull one end through the slit to make a twist in the donut. 
7. Deep fry in hot oil until golden on one side.  Flip and fry on the other side until golden.
8. Serve 'hot off the grill' dusted in confectioner's sugar, or leave them plain and dip in sugar while eating. 

Someone 'near and dear' who was born in Iceland, recommended that we try Kleiner.  One of these days I'll have her sample my version and see if they pass the test.

Food for Thought

She provides food for her family...
She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.
Prov. 31 : 15, 20

Honey Glazed Chicken

Summer has arrived.  Did you say we had four warm days? Nevertheless, it's officially summer now and by now the barbecue season should be in full force. I'm going to share with you one of our family's favorite chicken recipes. I always find it interesting how my own kids say, "Mom, why don't you post that honey garlic chicken recipe?" And I'm thinking, 'that recipe is so old...' but we all know that some of those recipes simply take priority on a hot sizzling summer day.

Instructions.

• One whole roasting fresh chicken or
• 4 fresh chicken breasts with skin and bone-in, or back attached.

Honey Garlic Sauce

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup soya sauce
• 2 cloves garlic

1. Heat butter on low heat, till melted, adding sugar, honey, soya sauce, and garlic.
2. Bring to a slow boil. Don't overcook because it will caramelize.
3. Lay the chicken on the grill on low heat.
4. Baste chicken with sauce frequently, until the crust is a light charcoal color.
5. Cooking time: (45 minutes for bone-in breasts/ 11/2 hour for rotisserie whole chicken)
6. Serve with your favorite salad.

I'm sure by now your mouths are watering. Even if it's not a hot sizzling summer day, you can just pretend that it's hot and hold your umbrella in the rain while you enjoy your favorite chicken dish.

Rollkuchen Gluten Free

For Flash Back Friday, I want to remind you to enjoy Rollkuchen and raboos (watermelon) on our lovely summer days. I first posted a recipe 8 years ago that you can find here, but I have tweeked the recipe since - the updated one is the recipe found below.

We grew up with watermelon and Rollkuchen  automatically served together and so to be able to continue to enjoy watermelon, finding a good recipe for gluten free Rollkuchen was a must! The latest tweeks resulted in me gaining the ultimate compliment from my husband when, after a few bites, he said ..."Are you sure you didn't use the wrong flour?" (wrong flour, aka wheat)

While watermelons are about 92% water they also have good levels of B6 and C, lots of Ivopene, antioxidants, amino acids and potassium. PLUS since they have only 40 calories per cup, it makes Rollkuchen a guilt free addition!!

• 1/3 cup milk 
• 1 egg 
• 2 well-rounded tablespoons of sour cream 
• 3/4 cup of Julie's Flour mix + 2 tablespoons 
• 1/4 cup white rice flour 
• 1/4 cup sweet rice flour 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder 
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum 

1. Thoroughly blend all dry ingredients.
2. Put egg, sour cream and milk in mixer bowl and blend.
3. Add dry ingredients and beat for a couple minutes until dough is fluffy and smooth.
4. Turn out onto lightly dusted counter surface (sweet rice flour) and work just enough sweet rice flour into dough until it is manageable. 
5. Roll out quite thin on a dusted surface, using as little sweet rice flour as possible to keep dough from sticking as you handle it. 
6. Cut into strips of desired length - I find 1 - 1 1/4 inches a good width and about 4 inches long. 
7. Deep fry in about 1/2 inch of oil in a frying pan, until golden brown - turn to brown both sides. The oil needs to be hot, but not so hot that you find they are browning too quickly. Slip each strip into the oil and tickle the tops with a fork to encourage them to 'puff'. 
8. They are good warm or cold - with watermelon, of course, but are also good with soup, or with jam or syrup, as we as kids enjoyed the left overs.   

Sorrel Moos

My Mom cooked this moos (we pronounce it mouse) in spring as soon as the sorrel would be ready to cut. And the wonderful thing was that sorrel grew fast and it would soon be ready for another cutting. She would alternate between cooking moos or summa borsht, sorrel is used for both. Either one tastes wonderful, the moos is especially delicious paired with something savory.
My sister Norma,  asked Mom for the recipe and of course Mom didn't have a written recipe so one day Mom cooked the moos and my sister measured the ingredients as Mom threw them in the pot. I am so glad she did.
Now I have my own row of sorrel plants in the garden and since they are a perennial they come up year after year and I get many cuttings all summer long. I freeze the extra to use in winter.

• 8 cups water
• 2 cups raisins
• 4 cups sorrel leaves, chopped
• 6 tablespoons cornstarch  
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 2 cups sugar, I have reduced this by 1/2 cup and it was sweet enough
• 1 cup whipping cream

1. Boil water and raisins together for 10 minutes.
2. Add chopped sorrel leaves and bring to a rolling boil.
3. Stir in cornstarch and milk which have been whisked together.
4. Add sugar and stir until dissolved.
5. Add cream and bring mixture to a rolling boil.
6. Remove from heat and cool.
7. You can eat it hot or cold, I like it both ways.

Buns and Platz

Memories of Saturdays growing up, always remind me of how my Mom would cook a big pot of soup, bake a batch of fresh buns and usually she would take part of the dough to make a platz or, as we called it, Streuselkuchen. My husband's side of the family called it Riebelplatz. Our middle daughter, as a pre-schooler, announced one day, "Mommy, it's easy to make Lieberplatz . . . all you need is dough, plums and crumbs!"
Now that I'm not baking for a family on a regular basis, and we don't eat a lot of white buns, I have taken part of the dough to make cinnamon buns as well. We have been pleasantly surprised how yummy they turn out even with less sweetness. So I'll leave you with a variety of goodies to try with one dough.

Ingredients for dough:

• ½ cup butter
• 2 cups milk
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 3 eggs
• ¼ cup sugar
• ¼ cup oil
• 2 cups very warm water
• 10-11 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons instant yeast

Method:

1. In small pot, melt butter and heat milk until warm.
2. In large mixer bowl, beat eggs, adding the sugar and then the oil.
3. Stir in all liquids – warm water, milk and butter
4. Add 4 – 5 cups flour and instant yeast, mixing well
5. Switching to dough (hook) attachment on mixer, add the rest of the flour, one cup at a time.
6. Turn dough into a larger bowl to rise, giving it a few more punches if needed.
7. Cover with a tea towel and plastic bag and rise about 1 – ½ hours

To make plain buns:

1. Use about ½ of the dough to make 15-18 buns. Shape into buns by taking a handful of dough at a time and squeezing bun shapes between thumb and forefinger. 
2. Place on greased cookie sheet, cover with tea towel and plastic and let rise 1 hour. 
3. Bake at 400° F for 20 min. Cool on wire racks.

Note: I slice the buns before freezing them. This makes it easy to make sandwiches quickly when they are still frozen, especially when I did school lunches.

To make Cinnamon Buns:

1. With greased hands, pinch off a large piece of the rest of the dough and roll out on floured surface. 
2. Spread with about 2 Tbsp melted butter and 1 cup brown sugar mixed with 1-2 tsp cinnamon.
3. Roll up jellyroll style and cut into 1” slices. Place on greased or parchment paper lined pan.
4. Cover and let rise 1 hour and then bake at 350° F for 20 min or until golden.
5. To ice: mix about 1 1/2 cups icing sugar, 1 Tbsp soft marg or butter and enough milk to make a nice spreading or drizzle consistency.

To make Platz:
Ingredients:

• fruit, jam or pie filling
• 3 tablespoons butter, room temp
• ½ cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar

Method:

1. Grease any shape of small - medium pan you like. You can use a round spring-form pan, a 9x13" pan or a cookie sheet. Spread or pat your left over dough into pan by hand. It will rise some, so it doesn’t have to be high – about ½ - 1 inch – some prefer a flat platz and some a high platz. Let it rest about 20 – 30 min.
2. Spread with cut up fruit, such as plums or apricots and sprinkle with just a couple of Tbsp of sugar. I used canned cherry pie filling. My mom often just spread it with just a beaten egg for moisture, then topped it with crumbs.
3. For Crumbs: Mix butter into flour and sugar with pastry cutter. Squeeze a handful at a time and sprinkle on fruit or jam. If you find the crumb mixture too dry, mix in a Tbsp of cream, and then squeeze into crumbs as you drop onto the fruit.
4. Let rise about ½ hour. Bake at 375° F for about 30 min. Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack. This is one of our favorite Sunday morning breakfast treats. To keep crumbs crunchy, don’t cover. If you freeze it, uncover to thaw.

This recipe can also be used for Zwieback or pizza crust. (not pictured)

Rhubarb Cheesecake Bars

I saw a similar recipe on the internet by Taste of Home which looked good and decided to try something similar using my own version by following my Rhubarb Dream Bar recipe and topping it with my Blueberry Cheesecake recipe. I had tried a couple of times, once making it with a gluten free flour mix and I wasn't overly satisfied with the results, likely the wrong choice of baking mix, but when I made it with regular flour the result was better in my opinion and several people asked for the recipe.

Crust:

• 2 cups flour
• 2/3 cups icing sugar
• 1 cup butter

Filling:

• 4 eggs, beaten
• 4 cups rhubarb, chopped
• 2 cups sugar (less is fine too)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Mix the flour and sugar in a medium bowl. Cut in the butter to make coarse crumbs with a pastry blender or with you hands. Press into a 9x13 in baking pan. 
2. Bake @ 350 for 15 minutes.
3. Combine eggs, sugar, cream,  flour, salt and mix well until there are no lumps. Fold in rhubarb.
4. Pour into baked crust and bake @ 350 for 50-60 minutes or until filling is set and edges start to turn brown.

Cheesecake Topping:

• 2- 8 oz packages cream cheese
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice (fresh is best)
• 2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 large tub of cool whip (I used an equal amounts of real whipped cream which is equal to about 4 cups whipped)

1. With a hand mixer beat cream cheese with sugar.
2. Add lemon juice and vanilla.
3. Fold in whipped cream until smooth.
4. Pour over the cooled rhubarb bar.
5. Set in fridge for over night to set.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

This strawberry salad has an orange flavored twist in the dressing. I love it!

Ingredients:

• 1 small bag spinach (about 8 - 10 cups / 170 g)
• 1 cup sliced strawberries
• 1 small zucchini, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup feta cheese
• 2 Tbsp. pumpkin seeds

dressing

• 3 Tbsp. frozen orange juice concentrate
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp. poppy seeds
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Method:

1. Shake up dressing ingredients in a small jar and pour over salad ingredients just before serving.

 

Bread for the Journey

Happy Fathers Day

Loving Heavenly Father, today we want to thank You for our fathers.
We pray that they would desire to seek to have a heart like Yours, and follow in Your footsteps.
Give them strength and courage to lead their families with wisdom and gentleness, helping them to live a life of compassion, tenderness, mercy, grace and love.
We know that it's a happy day for many as they honour their father's today, and we also recognize that there is sadness, loss, pain and disappointment for others today.
Lord God, we ask that You would come along side those fathers and families who are struggling today. May you strengthen and encourage them as they need.
Thank you that You are our Heavenly Father, and that You desire to be the Heavenly Father to all.
We ask that You would bless each father today.
In Jesus name. Amen.

Deuteronomy 31: 6
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid of terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.

Rhubarb Orange Sticky Muffins

My good friend Betti makes these wonderful Rhubarb Orange Muffins.
One day I tried adding a sticky pecan mixture to the bottom of the muffin cups before spooning in the batter and now I make them like this each spring during rhubarb season.
If you want to make the muffins without the brown sugar/pecan topping,
add 3/4 cup chopped pecans to the muffin batter.

For the sticky topping:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 2 tablespoons cream

For the muffins:

• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups finely chopped fresh rhubarb
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons grated orange rind
• 3/4 cup orange juice

1. Grease muffin pans. I use pans that make medium sized muffins and I usually get 16 muffins from this recipe.
2. Place 3 or 4 pecan halves in the bottom of each cup.
3. Mix topping ingredients in a small bowl.
4. Place about 1 teaspoon of topping in each cup on top of the pecans
5. Mix muffin batter:
6. In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients.
7. In medium bowl, beat egg.
8. Add oil, orange juice and orange rind to beaten eggs.
9. Add liquid mixture to dry mixture all at once and stir just until moistened.
10. Fold in rhubarb.
11. Spoon over brown sugar/pecan mixture in prepared muffin pans.
12. Bake for at 350 degrees F for 25 - 30 minutes.
13. Remove from oven, loosen sides of muffins and turn upside down on a rack.
14. These are best served the same day. If there are any left, store them in the refrigerator. (They will still be good the next day but will be softer in texture)