15 recipes for traditional Swedish Christmas candy (julgodis)

Christmas in Sweden is strongly correlated with a couple of traditional candies. Most would agree that Christmas is incomplete without knäck, ischoklad and pepparkakor. Merry Christmas everyone!

List of traditional Swedish Christmas candy

Click the images to get to the recicpe!

Fudge Fudge is not the most typical Christmas candy since it is also quite common around the year. There are countless different flavours for fudge, but for Christmas we thought gingerbread was the most suitable.
Knäck (Christmas toffee) No Swedish Christmas is complete without Knäck! Together with ischoklad (ice chocolate) it is the most typical Christmas candy in Sweden. I don’t know the correct translation for it, but I guess Swedish Christmas Toffee or Swedish Christmas caramel. The texture varies depending on how high temperature the mixture reaches before you take it off the heat.
Smörkola (Chewy caramel candy) A typical holiday treat in Sweden is called “smörkola” (or just “kola”). Explaining it in English would result in something like this: chewy goeey caramel candy. Also similar to toffee, butterscotch and fudge.
Brända mandlar (Schorched almonds) Schorched almonds or candied almonds is commonly found on Christmas tables or Christmas markets in Sweden. The almonds are first peeled, then fried with sugar while stirring. This is also a common street candy in Sweden.
Fransk nougat (French nougat) Sticky, soft, sweet and with some nuts in. What not to like with this Christmas candy!?
Mjuk pepparkaka (Soft gingerbread cake) This Swedish version of a soft gingerbread cake is really moist thanks to the lingonberry jam. It is kind of surprising that I have never baked one before because this was really moist and yummy! Perfect for December to give that Christmas feeling with the smell and taste of gingerbread. It is quite easy to bake and it probably last a long time before it goes dry (but I don’t know since we could not stop eating it)
Pepparkaka (Gingerbread) December really is the month of eating pepparkakor (gingerbread or gingersnaps) in Sweden. There are of course plenty of brands that sell ready made, but nothing beats that smell of freshly baked gingerbread! And if you are like me then you enjoy eating the raw gingerbread dough more than the baked cookies 🙂 Nowadays it is quite common to buy the complete dough in the store and bake it at home, but it feels a little like cheating so here’s a recipe for a great gingerbread dough.
Ischoklad (Ice chocolate) No Swedish Christmas is complete without Ischoklad! Together with knäck (Swedish christmas toffee) it is the most typical Christmas candy in Sweden. The original recipe for ischoklad is in my mind a bit boring with just chocolate and coconut butter. In this recipe I used orange flavoured chocolate bars, a tsp of Cointreau and then a raisin or two in each.
Marmeladgodis (Marmelade candy) One of my earliest memories of Christmas candy is going to Christmas markets in December. I especially recall those delicious cubes of sweet marmalade confections!
Chokladdoppade clementiner (Clementine dipped in chocolate) So simple, yet fresh and delicious. Chocolate and Clementine really is a good flavour match.
Knäckbräck - broken caramel This is similar to knäck but poured out to harden without forms and then broken to pieces
Juliga kolasnittar (Saffron caramel cookies) Kolasnittar (Swedish caramel cookies or biscuits or shortbread) are some of the easiest and fastest sweet things you can bake! Now when we enter the christmas season I wanted to try out a slightly different version: saffron caramel cookies! It turned out that saffron in combination with caramel was really delicious.
Marsipanfigurer (marzipan figurines) Let me know if you see a confectionary without marzipan figurines in Christmas times, I don't think you'll find one in Sweden! It is a real fun activity with kids to create your own marzipan figurines and get into that holiday spirit.
Kanderade äpplen (Candied apples) This is also a strong childhood memory from Christmas. Besides being a sweet treat it can also be used as decoration!
Polkagrisar (Candy canes) Definitely more common to just buy ready made. But if you make some yourself you can shape them the way you want!