Icelandic Waffle Morning

Have any of you been to Iceland?  Its a common stop for pilots delivering or flying low range corporate airplanes over the pond.  That's a job I did for a year when I had separated out of my previous employment and the airlines weren't hiring.  Unfortunately, back then I wasn't into photography so though there are some fun memories, there are no photos.

The pictures above and below were on the way there from a flight to the Middle East back in the 2000's when a former customer contracted a couple of us to deliver an airplane we were type rated and current in it and my employer gave the OK if I used vacation time for that if I wanted to go along.

 It was an old Gas Guzzler of a steam-gauged jet from the 60's, so multiple stops including the standard stop in Reykjavik.  It's a country where beer was banned until 1989 and alcohol is only sold at Keflavík International Airport and in Víbuðin, the state-run alcohol store, often given the Orwellian nickname 'Ríkið', or 'the government'. So it's not surprising that the only traffic jam you will find in Iceland nowadays is in front of Ríkið on late Friday afternoons and it makes Reykjavik a popular airport to travel into.

Iceland was one place I wish we could have stayed for more than a meal or jet fuel over the years and it's one of the countries I 'd actually love to visit outside of work.  I like the people, the geography of the place, the lack of blistering desert heat, and the food (OK, the roasted sheep head not so much).

What little food I had was excellent, from the awesome English style fish and chips from a little Fish and Chip Vagninn at the harbor in Reykjavik 

to their waffles, light as a cloud, thin and crispy and topped with fresh whipped cream and jam. So I decided to make some this morning.

I have a Swedish Waffle Iron (Chef's Choice 840 from Amazon) that has a low profile to make very thin waffles, crispy on the outside and soft in the middle so I bet I could use the Icelandic Waffle recipe I found in that. This iron has two settings, one for a more uniform crispness and one for crisp on the outside soft on the inside.  That's the setting I always use and these baked up in just 90 seconds.

They turned out incredibly good, and Partner in Grime told me to keep the recipe.  They were actually easier to make than Mom's Swedish ones.  I didn't have to whip the egg white separately and fold in and they were just as soft and fluffy inside.

Icelandic Waffles  (makes 5-6)

1 cup White Lily flour (made of soft winter wheat, makes excellent baked things)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 and 1/2 teaspoons sugar
3 pinches of salt
2 pinches of Cardamom

Mix  dry ingredients in a large bowl

Melt 3 Tablespoons of butter in a cup in the microwave

Measure out 3/4 cup milk.

Stir about a third of the milk into the dry ingredients.
Stir in melted butter
Stir in remaining milk
add 5 drops of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
add 1 large egg (room temperature)

Mix until combined but it will still have some lumps.

Cook per your waffle iron instructions (note, this was NOT tried in a thicker standard or Danish waffle iron so your results could vary).  Serve with whipped cream and jam or syrup. I didn't have enough whipped cream after making lefse earlier in the week so I used a simple syrup my Scandinavian Mom used to make.  The recipe is as follows

Country Syrup

1 and 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup Spring water

In a small heavy saucepan, boil the sugar and water over MEDIUM heat (don't be tempted to raise the temperature, it will scorch).

For a light syrup remove from heat when you get it to a boil.  For a thicker syrup, boil it longer until it starts to spin a threat on the spoon. (that's spin a THREAD, but it made for a brief funny mental image)