Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

Swedish classic Christmas candy – knäck.
Photo Jan-Erik Nilsson © 2009

Not too complicated to make, always appreciated, but demanding of your patience is the Swedish classic Christmas candy – knäck. It’s similar to English toffee but still not quite. Nothing sets the Christmas mood as well as a full tray of knäck. Here is how we made it this Christmas:

To use a large pot and to stir all the time is an essential trick of the trade. Possibly more failed candy are eaten straight out of the pot then actually perfected ones. But no worries, as it’s all part of the fun.

You can make knäck with or without nuts. Our batch this year was smooth, without the crunch.

Swedish classic Christmas candy – knäck
3 dl cream
3 dl sugar
3 dl light syrup
2 tbs butter
2 dl sweet almonds peeled and chopped (optional)

1. Chop the almonds. Lose the smallest particles.
2. Mix all ingredients minus the almonds in a large pot.
3. Boil while stirring until it reaches 125 centigrades, don’t even look away.
4. Add almonds
5. Fill the paper tins (ca 100). Don’t let the pot get cold.
6. Store on an open tray.

Find a small good suitable spoon for filling the paper tins or they will topple.

Some useful tips when making knäck:

Use average, not too hot a flame. Stir absolutely all the time. Find a small good suitable spoon for filling the paper cups or they’re prone to toppling over by the weight of the seductive goo. Avoid stacking the filled paper cups since they will stick together. There is a “drop test” in water that you can use to see if the temperature is right.

Enjoy!

Honey mustard baked ham.
Photo Jan-Erik Nilsson and Cheryl Marie Cordeiro for CMC © 2009

Baked ham is perhaps what Sweden and Singapore share most in common at the Christmas table, the difference being that in Singapore one could easily order it over the counter at the shops, whilst in Sweden, each household is more likely to bake their own.

Salted gammon in the pot.

What you’ll need if you’re going to do a homebaked ham is to purchase cured ham or boneless gammon that is readily available at the grocer’s. In Sweden, a little recipe follows each netted packaging of salted, raw ham.

The entire boneless gammon goes into a pot of water and simmered for about 3 hours. We dropped bay leaves, peppercorns and some carrots in our pot. Most recipes recommend that the inside of ham should reach between 70 and 74 deg C, you could go higher or lower, depending on how cooked you want your ham.
Continue reading “Swedish Christmas ham” →

Homebaked Christmas stollen.
Photo for CMC © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro Nilsson 2009

I think most would spend the better half of the year waiting for the festivities of year end Christmas, but when the holiday season arrives, it seems all too soon over because of the rush of it all.

Baking seems an integral part of the year end Christmas and New Year’s activities, of which one of my favourites are the rich fruit cakes and fruit breads. My mother has the tradition of baking rich and dark fruit cakes at Christmas, the type where the fruits soak in cognac for weeks prior to baking. My father has the tradition of baking sugee cakes at Christmas.

In Sweden today, we managed a fruitbread or a Christmas stollen, dusted over decadently with icing sugar. I’ve always loved fruit filled cakes and breads since I was a little girl and it was only ever at year end that I got to eat the cognac or brandy filled ones, tasting the variations of the cakes and breads whilst visiting relatives.

We made our fruit bread this year with a generous dash of orange liqueur and found that this bread goes well with a good orange marmalade.