Nordic Food & Living

menu icon
search icon

The BEST Nordic and Scandinavian Christmas recipes

The Scandinavian and Nordic Christmas is just full of hygge and love. On this page you can find the BEST and most popular Nordic Christmas recipes. The Nordic christmas is full of old and fantastic traditions. If you are looking to make a real Scandinavian Christmas then you are landed on the right page. I recommend you to browse through the recipe pages and get inspired - I am sure you can find some delicious Nordic and Danish Christmas food you like. Let me know in the comment section on the recipe pages what you think and what you like - I would love to hear from you and what is your favorite Nordic christmas recipe.

Risalamande - Danish Rice Dessert with Cream and Almonds

Categories: Desserts/ Nordic Christmas/ Popular Recipes

Recipe for Homemade Risalamande - Danish Rice Dessert for Christmas

What is traditional Risalamande (Danish Rice Pudding Dessert)

This recipe for Risalamande is properly the most famous and traditional Danish Christmas dessert that you can make. Risalamande is a rice pudding with vanilla, almonds and whipped cream, and it's typically served together with warm cherry sauce. The word Risalamande comes from the French word Riz à l'amande, which directly translated means rice with almonds. There are many different ways of spelling the word, Ris a la mande, Ris à l'amande and Ris ala mande just to name some, however, we have been told that the most correct way should be Risalamande [Read more...]

Jewish Cookies (Jødekager)

Categories: Desserts/ Nordic Christmas

Recipe for Homemade Danish Jewish Cookies (Jødekager)

Jewish cookies is a very popular and delicious small Christmas cookies. We both remember having had these cookies when we were kids and today it's one of our great Christmas traditions to make these cookies. When they are in the oven they spread out the most wonderful scent of Christmas - which is one of the reasons we love to make them. We have read that this cookie got the name, Jewish cookie, because it was made and sold by Jews bakeries back in the 1700 century. [Read more...]

Danish Red Cabbage (Rødkål)

Categories: All Recipes/ Nordic Christmas/ Side Dish/ Traditional Danish

Recipe for Homemade Danish Red Cabbage (Rødkål)

This recipe for Danish Red cabbage is a traditional and very popular side dish for many different dishes. Red cabbage is served all year around, however, it's very popular at Christmas where it's served together with the traditional Christmas eve dinner the 24th of December. In Danish we call this side dish Rødkål which translated simple means Red cabbage. We have used this recipe several times and its way better than the red cabbage you can buy at the super market. It's really simple to make and you only need five different ingredients, red cabbage, vinegar, currant juice, sugar and salt. You can easily change this recipe into a more personal dish by adding different spices according to your taste.

Normally we would use currant juice in this red cabbage, however, we have sometimes used elderberry juice instead which is just as good. [Read more...]

Danish Rice Pudding (Risengrød)

Categories: Dinner/ Nordic Christmas

Recipe for Homemade Danish Rice Pudding

This recipe for Danish rice pudding is a very traditional and famous dish in Denmark. In Denmark we call this dish Risengrød which directly translated simply means Rice pudding. Risengrød is mostly served in the month of December and especially in the time around the Christmas days. In many families a large batch of rice pudding is made the 23rd of December where some of it is eaten for dinner and the rest is saved for the 24th. On the day of Christmas eve the rice pudding is mixed with vanilla, whipped cream and almonds and it's served as the famous and very delicious Christmas dessert Risalamande. [Read more...]

Top 4 Best Nordic Christmas Recipes

Categories: Nordic Christmas

Recipe for risalamende

In this blog post I will go through my suggestions for the Top 4 Best Nordic Christmas recipes. What is the best time of the year? - for me it is differently the Christmas time and that should of course be celebrated with delicious food.

Maybe you have some Nordic roots or maybe you are just looking for some new recipes for some delicious Nordic Christmas food. No matter why you are here I am sure you will be able to find some fantastic recipe for some great Nordic Christmas food. [Read more...]

Danish Roast Pork with Crackling (Flæskesteg)

Categories: Dinner/ Nordic Christmas/ Pork/ Traditional Danish

Recipe for homemade Danish Pork Roast with Crisp Rind (flæskesteg)

This is the recipe for a traditional Danish roasted pork with a crisp rind. In Denmark this roast is called a Flæskesteg which translated simply means a pork roast and it is typically served during Christmas. However, many people also have it for dinner all year around. In many countries, a pork roast is normally prepared without the rind. In this Danish version the rind is always left on and then it is cooked into crisp and salty cracklings. In Denmark, you can get this piece of meat in every grocery stores. Outside Denmark, you properly need to contact you local butcher to get a cut where the rind is left on the meat. [Read more...]

Danish Fried Twists (Klejner)

Categories: All Recipes/ Nordic Christmas

Recipe for Homemade Danish Fried Twists (Klejner)

No Christmas without klejner! Klejner is an old and very traditional Danish Christmas snack served throughout the month of December. A klejne is a small piece of dough shaped/twisted like a small knot or diamond and then deep-fried until it is crisp and golden.

See also: Original recipe for famous Danish Butter Cookies

In Denmark it is possible to buy klejner at almost every super market at Christmas. However, we always make our klejner ourselves. We believe that the homemade version is way better compared to the klejner from the super market. Some people think it is difficult to make them yourselves but actually it is pretty easy. [Read more...]

Danish Brown Cookies (Brunkager)

Categories: Desserts/ Nordic Christmas

Recipe for Homemade Danish Brown Cookie (Brunkager)

Danish brown cookies, or Brunkager, as they are called in Danish are another very famous and traditional Danish Christmas cookie. They are eaten throughout the month of December either in the homemade version or the one you can buy at the super market. The Brunkager we can buy at the grocery stores in Denmark are actually not too bad, but the homemade version is still a winner. [Read more...]

Danish Apple Pork (Æbleflæsk)

Categories: Lunch/ Nordic Christmas

Recipe for Homemade Danish Apple Pork (Æbleflæsk)

This dish, Danish apple pork, it a real traditional Danish Christmas dish typically served for a Christmas dinner. In Danish we call this dish Aebleflaesk which translated means Apple pork, and that's what it is. Aebleflaesk is a very simple dish which is based on three ingredients, apples, onions and streaky pork. As said, Aebleflaesk is a very traditional Danish dish but it's also a very regional dish which is prepared in different ways depending on which parts of Denmark you are from. This recipe is the one my family have always used and it's also the one I always use. [Read more...]

Danish Sugar Browned Potatoes (Brunede kartofler)

Categories: Nordic Christmas/ Side Dish

Recipe for Homemade Danish Sugar Browned Potatoes for Christmas

In Denmark, and the Nordic countries in general, the 24th of December is a day which is packed with many great traditions. The 24th of December is the day where we get together with our family, eat a lot of delicious food, exchange presents and celebrate Christmas.

A typical Danish Christmas eve dinner consist of roasted duck or roasted pork, served with Danish red cabbage, boiled potatoes and these sugar browned potatoes. For dessert it's a big tradition to serve the Danish rice pudding (Risalamande). [Read more...]

Perfectly Roasted Duck

Categories: Dinner/ Nordic Christmas/ Traditional Danish

Recipe for the Perfectly Roasted Duck for Christmas

How to make a Danish Roasted Christmas Duck

This recipe for the perfectly roasted duck is super delicious and it's relatively easy to make. In Denmark we eat roasted duck all year around, however, it's a very traditional dish for Christmas where it's served for dinner at Christmas eve. A traditional Danish dinner at Christmas eve consist of roasted duck or pork, served with boiled potatoes, Danish sugar browned potatoes, Danish red cabbage, gravy and for dessert the very popular Danish Risalamande which is a kind of rice pudding with whipped cream and almonds. [Read more...]

Nordic Sugar Roasted Almonds

Categories: Nordic Christmas/ Snacks

Recipe for homemade Sugar Roasted Almonds for Christmas

These sugar roasted almonds are a real classic Christmas snack and in Denmark they are sold in every mall and street corner where hungry Christmas shoppers are looking for a quick and delicious snack. Typically the roasted almonds are cooked and sold from small cooking karts which has one or two large saucepans, where the almonds are roasted in sugar, and a small table where the almonds are packed in plastic bags. A bag containing about 200 g (7 oz) are sold for about 3-4 USD and if they are still a little hot when you buy them, they are super delicious.

In Denmark this snack are more or less only made in the Christmas period, however, we don't understand why - they are very delicious and easy to make so why not just serve they all year around? Of course if we had them all the time it wouldn't a great Christmas tradition to make them.

How to make Danish sugar roasted almonds


In order to make these sugar roasted almonds you only need three different ingredients, almonds, sugar and water - all ingredients which most households always have on the shelf. The almonds are very easy to make and it only takes about 20 minutes to make one serving of this delicious snack. We have served this snack for both our friends and family and they all loved them. We have also used these almonds as a hostess gift.

If you make a fresh batch of these almonds and wrap them plastic gift wrap, you have a great and beautiful hostess gift which most people would love.

If you are interesting in other delicious Christmas food, take a look in our recipe archive

Print Recipe
No ratings yet

Nordic Sugar Roasted Almonds

This recipe is a traditional way of roasting almonds in the Nordic countries and especially in Denmark. Easy to follow and the result is very delicious. Typically served around December and Christmas in Denmark.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Course: Snack
Cuisine: Danish
Keyword: Nordic Christmas
Servings: 400 grams
Author: NordicFoodLiving.com

Ingredients

  • 200 g almonds
  • 200 g sugar
  • 3/4 dl water
Metric - US Customary

Instructions

  • Pour the almonds, sugar and water in a large saucepan. Heat up the pan at medium heat.
  • The water and sugar will start to boil and become a syrup. Stir and turn the almonds constantly.
  • Keep boiling the water and sugar until all the water is evaporated and the sugar starts to get solid and powdery again.
  • Now the sugar should start to melt slowly. When that happens turn down the heat a little bit. Stir in the almonds constantly. Don't let the sugar melt too much or it won't stick to the almonds.
  • When all the almonds have a nice, thin and brown layer of sugar all over, pour all the almonds onto an oven tray lined with parchment/baking paper.
  • Use a fork to separate the almonds from each other so that they don't stick together when they are cooled.
  • Let the almonds cool off and keep them in a glass jar.

Notes

Sometimes it can be a little difficult to hit the right heat balance - If you don't heat the sugar and almonds enough the sugar will stick to the almonds in larger chunks and if you overheat the sugar it won't stick to the almonds. Our advise is to slowly heat up the sugar mixture so that you can control the process. Look at the pictures below where you can see how the sugar mixture should look like.


Recipe for Nordic Sugar Roasted Almonds

Recipe for Nordic Sugar Roasted Almonds

Recipe for Nordic Sugar Roasted Almonds

Recipe for Nordic Sugar Roasted Almonds

Recipe for Nordic Sugar Roasted Almonds

Recipe for Nordic Sugar Roasted Almonds

Cocoa Oat Balls (Havregrynskugler)

Categories: Desserts/ Nordic Christmas/ Snacks

Recipe for homemade Danish Havregrynskugler (Danish Cocoa oat balls)

This is a traditional recipe for a real Danish Christmas treat called Havregrynskugler or Oat Balls in English. This recipe exist in many different and smaller variations. However, all of them are typically based on oats, butter, sugar and cocoa powder.

Also see: Recipe for traditional Danish Butter Cookies

The recipe is very easy to follow and the kids normally love to help. This is a non-bake recipe so it is very difficult to resist eating a couple of them before you are done making them. From start to finish, it takes about 1 hours and that includes 15-30 minutes of resting time in the fridge. [Read more...]

Cookies with Nuts and Chocolate

Categories: Desserts/ Nordic Christmas

Recipe for Homemade Cookies with Nuts and Chocolate


The recipe for dark chocolate and nut cookies has a special importance for me, as these are the cookies my mother always make during Christmas. I do not know if it is because I only get these cookies at Christmas but I simply love these small and crispy cookies. I think they just have the right amount of dark chocolate and nuts - they are just super delicious. Together with my brother, we always end up eating way to many of them when relaxing on the couch watching the Christmas shows on the TV. [Read more...]

Churros with Chocolate Sauce

Categories: Desserts/ Nordic Christmas

Recipe for Homemade Churros with Chocolate Sauce

Churros are also sometimes referred to as Spanish doughnut. In Danish we both refer to them as Churros or Spanskrør, which translated means Spanish tubs . The origin of the Churros is a bit unclear, however, some people believe the first Churros where made by Spanish shepherds, as an easy substitute for fresh bread and other bakeries.

Today they are very popular in most European countries, the Philippines and the US. Churros are made from a dough mixture of flour, water, eggs, sugar, butter and salt, and then they are fried until they become [Read more...]

Chocolate Truffles

Categories: Desserts/ Nordic Christmas

Recipe for Homemade Chocolate Truffles
Chocolate truffles is a kind of confectionery which are typically covered with chopped nuts like almonds, coconut or hazelnuts, or sometimes they are simply just covered with molten chocolate. In this very simple recipe we have covered the truffles in cocoa powder which gives they a super delicious taste. These chocolate truffles are very easy to make, in fact they require almost no work. You only need three different ingredients; heavy cream, rich dark chocolate and [Read more...]

Delicious Date Balls with Licorice

Categories: Desserts/ Nordic Christmas/ Snacks

Homemade Delicious Date Balls with Liquorice

We have to confess - we are in love with candy and especially in the Holiday seasons we eat a lot of it. For many people, the Christmas holidays are associated with delicious, and often fat, food and candy in large amounts. And we are absolutely no excuse! In Denmark the candy are mostly chocolate, wine gum and different cakes. Sometimes all this sugar and calories can be just enough. This recipe for delicious candy balls are based on dates and nuts, and do not contain any sugar at all. They are super simple and easy to make and a great and healthy alternative to the regular candy. We normally role the date balls in licorice powder, cocoa powder or coconut flakes, this gives a great taste to the candy and makes them very decorative. The recipe is kids friendly and it is super fun to roll and decorate your own candy balls. [Read more...]

Danish Rice Pudding Pancakes (Klatkager)

Categories: Nordic Christmas

Recipe for Homemade Danish Rice Pudding Pancakes (Klatkager)

We are not the people that eat a lot of the traditional Danish rice pudding or Risengrød as we call it but it's a traditional that we make it at every Christmas. Risengrød is a very popular Christmas dish and is often used to make the even more traditional risalamande which is typically served for dessert after the dinner at Christmas eve.

Typically the risengrød is made the 23th of December and served for dinner, then the leftovers are used to make the Risalamande the day after on the 24th and if there still are some extra Risengrød then it can be used to make these rice pudding pancakes or Klatkager as they are called in Danish - so it can be said that these pancakes is like a third level dish. [Read more...]

Danish Peppernuts (Pebernodder)

Categories: Nordic Christmas/ Snacks

Recipe for Homemade Danish Pebernødder (Pepper Nuts)

This is the recipe for the very traditional Danish Pebernodder which is a walnut-sized Christmas cookie in a circular/spherical shape.

In Denmark we call these small cookies pebernodder which directly translated means pepper nuts. These cookies are very popular in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands and are internationally sometimes referred to as pfeffernuesse or simply just peppernuts. In Denmark it's properly one of the most popular and traditional Christmas cookies, even though it is competing with the very delicious Danish Jewish cookie and the Danish brown cookie.

The Pebernodder cookies are served as snacks in the whole month of December and we find that they are highly addictive - once we are started eating these, we can't stop. The origin of this cookie is not entirely known, however it's expected that it's somewhere in Germany or the Netherlands. [Read more...]

Chocolate covered Roasted Almonds

Categories: Nordic Christmas/ Snacks

Recipe for Homemade Roasted Almonds with Chocolate and Liquorice

This is a recipe for the most delicious chocolate covered almonds. They are very easy to make and they are a super snack, especially for Christmas or other special occasions. As said the recipe is very simple, you simple just roast some almonds in the oven for about 10 minutes, dip the in some melted chocolate and finally roll them in cocoa powder. In Denmark, and the Scandinavian countries in general, liquorice is a very popular sweet. We think that liquorice it's a very Nordic thing be course we always have a hard time finding this sweet when we are traveling abroad. Besides rolling these chocolate covered almonds in cocoa we also like to roll them in liquorice powder which gives when a nice and fresh taste. We also like to double dip the almonds in the chocolate so that they get a nice and thick layer of chocolate.

Roasted Almonds with Chocolate and Liquorice

400 g (14 oz)
Preparation time: 60 minutes
Danish title: Ristede mandler med chokolade og lakrids

Ingredients:
200 g (7 oz) almonds
200 g (7 oz) white chocolate (or half white and half milk chocolate)
1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tbsp liquorice powder (optional)

Instructions:
Step 1: Roast the almonds on an oven tray in the oven for about 8-10 minutes at 180 C (360 F).
Step 2: When the almonds are roasted let them cool off a bit.
Step 3: Mix the cocoa and liquorice powder together. If you don't have any liquorice powder you can just use cocoa powder.
Step 4: Melt the chocolate by placing a heat resistant bowl in a sauce pan with water at the bottom. The bowl should float. Chop the chocolate in large pieces and pour it in the bowl. Slowly heat up the water and let it boil lightly. The chocolate will now melt slowly. Be careful not to get any water down in the chocolate melt or it will clump together. If you are using both white and dark chocolate, to decorate your almonds, of course don't melt it at the same time.
Step 5: Pour the almonds into the melted chocolate and mix them around.
Step 6: Use a fork to take up the chocolate covered almonds and place them on a sheet of parchment/baking paper. Let the chocolate solidify.
Step 7. Now put the chocolate covered almonds into the chocolate melt one more time. This will give them a thicker layer of chocolate.
Step 8: Take the almonds up and let them cool off - before the chocolate it completely solidified roll them in the cocoa/liquorice powder. Of course if you don't have liquorice powder, cocoa powder will do it.

Almonds

Chocolate covered Roasted Almonds

Chocolate covered Roasted Almonds

Chocolate covered Roasted Almonds