Swedish food treats :: Golosinas suecas

Swedish version

What is the best way to celebrate? Having a good meal with your favourite people! So, this New Year 2014 we will keep cooking to enjoy the pleasure that food gives you.

First of all, I wish you had a VERY MERRY Christmas. We really had it so far! And we have been gathering with our beloved family and friends around the table which is always the best part of the season indeed.

Secondly, THANK YOU for being on the other side of the screen reading my blog. We will be uploading more and more recipes, restaurants reviews and things going on in our Spanish kitchen and... My patient boyfriend will be translating into Swedish in case you might want to read the blog in that language.

For the moment, I'm showing you all the AMAZING food treats my boyfriend got for his birthday. They came directly from Sweden and we loved it! It brought back good memories from the years my boyfriend lived there and I was so thrilled to taste new things! 

ITEMS

Pepparkakor
Ginger snaps small hearts. You know I mentioned that my favourite pepparkakor are from Anna's but I can wait to give them a try! (with my boyfriend's permission, of course ;)




JULE NISSE & KEX
Jule nisse is a fluffy, two-coloured marshmallow Santa with a taste of strawberry. Swedes are so keen on Christmas stuffs and they care on bringing it to your house even in marshmallows!

Kex means biscuit in Swedish so it is basically a chocolate biscuit with a waffle pattern on the front. You might probably find similar ones in your country but this one is just... Swedish ;)

CANDY HOUSE
This little lovely cottage just makes me point out again that Swedes LOVE Christmas and they really built up beautiful things. This small paper house was filled with Swedish candies from Malaco (a Swedish brand of confectionery products) and Bilars.
Malaco is one of the Sweden's most famous candy brands. Both the content and the box design with the monkey, giraffe and parrot are true Swedish classic in candy shelf. They are small tablets of Zoo in a box. We also had the Fruit box. 
And finally in the little house we can find Rox (raspberry & lemongrass flavoured sweeties) and & Fox (plain lemon flavoured ones).

BILAR (cars)
These little cars are the most popular soft fruit flavoured candies all over Sweden. The small marshmallow cars are marketed as "the Swedish most bought car". They are really addictive! My dad actually LOVED them till the point that every time we fly to Sweden we have to bring him 3-4 cases of Bilars.

KAVLI SPREADS
I know this is a Norwegian brand but I found it out in Göteborg. Actually ICA has got a HUGE cupboard with all these "food tooth pastes" hanging on there. There are so many flavours and tastes and when you stop in front of it you can hardly decide which one taking home first.
Ours are prawn and blue cheese spread.

JULKNÄCKE BREAD
This is a baked Christmas spiced wheat crispbread that works perfectly with all the spreads mentioned above. It is crunchy and you can either eat it with something else or as a small snack between hours. I just love it.

JULMUST APOTEKARNES
Julmust is a soft drink that is mainly consumed in Sweden around Christmas. Bear in mind that the consumption of Coca-Cola drops by as much as 50% over Christmas because of this drink (!!!). Crazy! This is like David against Goliath haha!

Glögg, Swedish Christmas wine :: Glögg, vino sueco navideño

Swedish version here

Lately I'm feeling quite Swedish-nostalgic. I can't call it "homesick" because I haven't ever lived there but the truth is that it is the first year that I don't travel to Göteborg during winter. And by winter I mean Christmas season.
In my opinion, Göteborg has got the most beautiful Christmas feeling ever. Streets are packed with people (in a country where you rarely see a soul during winter at 5 pm), you can smell sugar at any corner and you can hear Christmas carols any place you step in. Not to mention that their Christmas markets are GORGEOUS.

Everything mentioned above made me think I should find something to chin me up and wine came to my mind! If you link wine + Swedish + Christmas the result is Glögg, so let's drink a little bit ;)

Ingredients (2 ppl)

• 1/2 litre of red wine
• 80 ml of caster sugar
• 80 ml of water
• 7,5 ml of clove
• 7,5 of cardamom
• 5 ml cinnamon
• 1/2 orange peel

Elaboration
This recipe is as simple as mixing the ingredients all together. First of all, add the sugar in a pot together with the clove, the cardamom, the cinnamon and the orange peel.

Then, add the water and bring everything to boil. 

Mix it a little bit until it is boiling and then let it simmer for 5 minutes to syrup-like consistency. 
Cover and let it rest 8 hours or over night in room temperature.

After that time you will notice the syrup is quite sticky. Don't worry, it should be like that! Now, add the red wine and heat without boiling. 
Once it is warm enough, strain and serve.

You are about to taste a homemade glögg!

Skål och God Jul! 
Cheers and Merry Christmas!



Fonts: 
Göteborg.com 
Le Parfait