🍢 SNACK
Kleinur (Icelandic Twisted Doughnuts)
Diamonds of cardamom-scented buttermilk dough with a slit in the middle, one end pulled through to make a knot, deep-fried until golden and eaten with coffee, the everyday fried pastry of Iceland.
Icelandic · medium · serves 10
prep 40 min · cook 25 min · plus 30 min hands-off time
~302 cal · 6g protein · 52g carbs · 7g fat · 1g fiber · 14g sugars · 4g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Kleinur, little knots, are Iceland's everyday fried pastry, sold in bakeries and shops, made at home and eaten with a cup of coffee in the afternoon. They are relatives of the Danish klejner and the Norwegian fattigmann, and like them they are twisted into a knot before frying.
The dough is firmer and less sweet than a doughnut dough: flour, sugar, butter and egg brought together with súrmjólk, Icelandic soured milk, or buttermilk, raised with baking powder and a little bicarbonate of soda, and flavoured with . It is rolled thin and cut into diamonds, traditionally with a kleinujárn, a fluted cutting wheel made for the job. A slit is cut in the middle of each diamond and one end is pulled through it, and the knots are fried in hot fat until they puff and turn deep golden.
The result is dense, bready and gently spiced, crackly on the outside, and best on the day they are made.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 10
- 500 g plain flour, plus extra for rolling
- 125 g sugar
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 75 g butter, soft
- 1 egg
- 250 ml súrmjólk or buttermilk
- 1.5 litres sunflower or rapeseed oil, for deep-frying
Instructions
- 1Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom and salt in a large bowl. Rub in the soft butter, then add the egg and the súrmjólk and work it into a firm, smooth dough. Wrap and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- 2Roll the dough out on a floured surface to about 4 mm thick. Cut it into strips about 5 cm wide, then cut across the strips on a slant to make diamonds.
- 3Make a 2 to 3 cm slit lengthways in the middle of each diamond. Push one pointed end through the slit and pull it out the other side to make a twisted knot.
- 4Heat the oil in a deep pan to 180°C. Fry the kleinur six or seven at a time for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, until puffed and deep golden. Lift out and drain on kitchen paper.✎ Chef’s noteKeep the oil at 180°C: too hot and they burn before the middle cooks, too cool and they soak up fat.
- 5Leave to cool a little and serve with coffee. They are best the day they are made and freeze well.
Icelandic home baking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Reykjavík. Plokkfiskur is a leftovers dish rather than a salt cod one. Fish boiled the day before is flaked and stirred through a white sauce with onion and potato, then eaten with dark rye and butter. It is home cooking that worked its way onto restaurant menus rather than the other way round.
🗺️
Iceland. The old preservation methods are still visible. Hardfiskur is wind-dried fish torn into strips and eaten with butter; hakarl is Greenland shark, cured for months because it cannot be eaten fresh; and rugbraud is baked as hverabraud, buried in the ground near a hot spring and left overnight to steam itself dark and sweet. Plokkfiskur, by contrast, uses fresh boiled fish.
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Europe. European cooking is built on the land and the seasons, wheat, butter, and cured pork in the north; olive oil, tomatoes, and seafood around the Mediterranean; preserved vegetables and hearty stews through long winters. Centuries of peasant tradition, guild craft, and royal courts refined techniques from French mother sauces to Italian fresh pasta and Central European baking. Regional identity runs remarkably deep, with a single dish often changing from one valley to the next.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Iceland
PlokkfiskurIceland’s "plucked fish": cod and potatoes folded into a warm, oniony white sauce, served with dark rye and butter.
Hafragrautur (Icelandic Oat Porridge)Creamy stovetop oat porridge simmered with a pinch of salt, served the Icelandic way with a spoon of skyr, brown sugar, and butter.
PylsurIceland's lamb-based hot dog with crispy and raw onions, remoulade, and a sweet-brown mustard, a Reykjavik institution.
Browse all Iceland recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Store in an airtight container. Most keep 2 to 3 days at room temperature, and longer refrigerated.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Kleinur (Icelandic Twisted Doughnuts)?
Diamonds of cardamom-scented buttermilk dough with a slit in the middle, one end pulled through to make a knot, deep-fried until golden and eaten with coffee, the everyday fried pastry of Iceland.
Where does Kleinur (Icelandic Twisted Doughnuts) come from?
Kleinur (Icelandic Twisted Doughnuts) is an Icelandic dish from Reykjavík, Iceland.
Can Kleinur (Icelandic Twisted Doughnuts) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Kleinur (Icelandic Twisted Doughnuts) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Kleinur (Icelandic Twisted Doughnuts) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Kleinur (Icelandic Twisted Doughnuts) take to make?
About 1 h 35 min in all: 40 minutes prep and 25 minutes cooking, plus 30 min of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 10.
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