Arri London wrote:
>
> From 'Icelandic Food and Cookery'
>
> Vinaterta
>
> 1 cup margarine or butter softened
> 1 cup sugar
> 2 small eggs
> 4 cups flour or as needed
> 1 1/2 teaspoons baker's ammonia or baking powder
> 1 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom
> 1/2 cup milk
> 1 1/2 cups rhubarb jam or prune filling (see below)
>
> Cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, whisking well
> between additions. Add flour, baker's ammonia and cardamom along with
> the milk and stir to combine. Knead the dough until smooth; it should
> be soft and just short of sticky. Shape it into a ball, cover with
> plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.
>
> Preheat the oven to 375 F. Divide the dough into 6 equal parts. On a
> floured work surface, roll each part out into a thin disc, around 9
> inches in diameter. Arrange the circles on baking sheets lined with
> parchment paper and bake in the center of the oven for 12 minutes, or
> just until beginning to brown at the edges.
>
> Sandwich the layers with the jam while still warm. Let cool
> completely, wrap in foil and keep for at least a couple of days. If
> stored in a cool place, the cake will keep for weeks and improve with
> age.
>
>
>
>
> Prune filling
>
> 1 1/2 cups pitted prunes
> 1/2 cup sugar
> 1 tablespon cinnamon
> 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
>
<snip>

This recipe is very similar to the one I used. Except...for the filling, I
was told specifically to used prunes that have not been pitted. The filling
doesn't firm up as well if made with pitted prunes, or so I was told. It
was a bit of a pain to remove the prunes after cooking the filling, but also
rather fun :-)

Some vinaterta recipes use a more cake-like layer rather than cookie-like
layer. They're not nearly as good, but are easier to make.

And yes, the cake definitely improves with age. I remember when I made it
for the first time (Christmas, 2000) I was so pleased with my effort (it
took 4 or 5 hours in total--including the time to let the filling cool a
little) that I gave some to my mother right away. She made such a face (she
thought it was very unpleasant tasting at the time) that I became very angry
and told her that she couldn't have any. I think I hid it in a cupboard,
but my parents found it and since it had aged a little, it tasted much
better. They would secretly cut large chunks of it and nibble on it in
their room. Did they think I wouldn't notice that half of it was gone :-)?

One piece of trivia--vinaterta is very popular in Manitoba and at every
Icelandic celebration, one can always find vinaterta. I read in an article,
however, that vinaterta is not so frequently found in Iceland anymore.
Apparently, vinaterta was very popular around the time that Icelandic people
immigrated to Canada and as is usual, these immigrants maintained the
traditions and foods they knew, and passed them on to their children.
Iceland, however, changed as all cultures do, and vinaterta is no longer as
popular there.

rona (btw, I think I'm staying in Japan till 2007, so that's another year
for you to think about visiting Japan!)
--
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