''Knäck'' or Christmas Butterscotch is a traditional

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

toffee Toffee is a confection made by caramelizing sugar or molasses (creating inverted sugar) along with butter, and occasionally flour. The mixture is heated until its temperature reaches the hard crack stage of . While being prepared, toffee ...

prepared at

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

. The name translates into "crack" and refers to its hard consistency (reminiscent of

Daim DAIM (, like the coin ''dime''; born 1971 as Mirko Reisser) is a German graffiti artist who lives and works in Hamburg. He is particularly known for his large-size, 3D-style graffiti works. This has become known as his trademark. For his technica ...

Skor bar Skor is a chocolate toffee bar produced by The Hershey Company. It was first marketed in the United States in 1981 and in Canada starting in 1983. The Skor bar consists of a thin slab of butter toffee covered in a milk chocolate coating. Skor ...

s). Some prefer their knäck to be soft and chewy, which is easily attainable by simmering the mix for a shorter time.

Recipe

A common recipe is equal parts (typically 0.3 litres) of heavy

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

(not whipped), sugar and golden syrup (or Swedish light syrup, ''ljus sirap''). It is also common to add a few tablespoons of

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condimen ...

. One may also add 5 or 10 grams (1-2 tsp) of vanilla sugar or about 0.1 kg of peeled and finely chopped almonds. Put all the ingredients except for the almonds in a heavy based saucepan and let simmer until the sugar has melted, do not stir n.b. The mixture will rise and fall a few times. Simmer until a few drops of the mix poured into cold water can be rolled into a chewy or hard ball. Then add the almonds a spoonful of butter, and pour in waxed paper cups and leave to cool. Even though the recipe is easy, the process of simmering can take up to 1.5 hours. If using a thermometer to supervise the process, a minimum final temperature is around 125 degrees C for a fairly soft product, when it gets to 130 degrees or more the final result is very hard.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knack Toffee Swedish confectionery Christmas food Christmas in Sweden