One of the traditional Swedish Christmas sweets is kola (toffee) and there are loads of variations of it. I've been making it for a few years and always felt I've done something wrong. However, the stuff I've done over the past couple of years has been very tasty and I have decided that the discrepancy between what I imagine and what I end up with is due to the humid climate in the UK.
I've tried several different recipes, but a couple of years ago I made a lingon flavoured kola and it was really nice. So I was very surprised that I'd not recorded it in the blog. This is to correct this omission, because this year they turned out very nice too.
When I searched for the recipe, there were many results which showed beautifully rich pink sweets. I was hoping to get this colour too, unfortunately they went brown and look like generic toffees. Either the sugar caramelised or some of it burnt at the bottom of the saucepan, because it required some elbow grease to remove afterwards. Luckily the flavour was not affected.
The original recipe is in Swedish here.
Ingredients
makes around 70, depending on the size
250 g frozen lingonberries
260 g granulated sugar
100 g unsalted butter
3 dl whipping cream
1.5 dl light syrup
1 tbsp glucose syrup
Method
- Stir together the frozen lingonberries and the sugar in a large saucepan with a thick bottom and bring to a boil.
- Strain the mixture through a fine mesh or sieve. This should give around 340 g juice. Save the pulp and skins and use as jam on toast.
- Melt the butter in the saucepan and add the whipping cream, lingon-sugar mixture, light syrup and glucose syrup and stir gently to mix.
- Stop stirring once everything is combined and looks homogenous. Then let the mixture simmer gently until it reaches 125 °C.
- While the toffee mixture is cooking, line a shallow baking tin (25 x 25 cm) with baking paper.
- When the mixture reaches the right temperature, pour into the baking tin and allow to cool down completely.
- Cut up into bite sized pieces and wrap in baking paper, then store in an airtight container.
Needless to say, you need to have good teeth for these. Keep them in room temperature for a softer toffee or in the fridge for a harder, chewier texture.
A couple of years ago I invested in an adjustable "toffee mould" because the mixture does set fairly quickly once it's off the hob. However once it sets, I recommend refrigerating it before cutting because it will behave like a glacier - looks solid, but flows and once the adjustable mould is removed it will start deforming. I ended up cutting a strip, putting the mould sides back on and putting the thing in the fridge, then quickly cutting the strip into pieces, wrapping them in prepared pieces of baking paper, then also back in the fridge.
The lingonberries can probably be replaced with raspberries and I think adding some liquorice powder would be quite nice too. Next Christmas.
