A Guide to Scandinavian Treats

Scandinavian food is known for ingredients like fish, potatoes, berries and pork. From lutefisk to fruit soup to glogg, the Nordic countries have produced some remarkable food.

Today we want to focus on the sweet end of it, and share some of our favorites. Whether you’re looking for a piece of your Scandinavian history or something new and delicious to try, we’ve got you covered when it comes to treats.

If this article is making you hungry, you can order Scandinavian treats online at Scandinavian Shoppe.

Our Favorite Scandinavian Treats

You can never have enough Scandinavian products. Read through our list and find the perfect treat to share — or to keep all for yourself.

Pepparkakor Gingersnaps

If there is one cookie that means Christmas in Sweden, it’s the pepparkaka — thin, dark with ginger and cloves, and snappy enough to hear from across the room. A box of Lars Own Swedish gingersnaps is a staple in Scandinavian homes through December, and tradition says you put one in your palm, make a wish, and press it — if it breaks in three, the wish comes true.

Icelandic Chocolate

Iceland turns out some genuinely excellent chocolate, and it is one of the easiest ways into Nordic sweets if you’re just starting. The dark chocolate with sea salt is the one we recommend first, though the milk chocolate with toffee and sea salt disappears just as fast.

Sted Chocolate Bars

If you’d rather taste your way across several at once, the Sted bars come in small sizes built for exactly that — Nordic Milk, Mint Mocha, Eggnog and more. There’s a six-piece gift set if you want to hand someone the whole tour.

Berry Preserves

Berries are central to Scandinavian cooking. Lingonberries turn up beside meatballs, cloudberries on waffles, blueberries in everything from soup to pie. A jar of Hafi blueberry preserves is the easiest way to get that flavor onto your own table, with a high enough fruit content that it tastes like fruit rather than sugar.

Salty Licorice

Here is where we find out how Scandinavian you really are. Salmiak — licorice made salty with ammonium chloride — is beloved across the Nordics and baffling almost everywhere else. If you grew up with it, you already know. Lakerol Salmiak is the classic. If you’d like to work up to it, start with the gentler raspberry licorice.

Swedish Fish and Gummies

You have almost certainly eaten Swedish Fish. You may not have had them from Sweden. We carry them in sour wild strawberry, sour peach and sour blueberry, alongside the Jom gourmet gummies in raspberry and blackcurrant. For the youngest members of the household, the Pippi Longstocking gold coins are hard to beat.

Ballerina Cookies

Ask any Swede about Goteborgs Ballerina cookies and you will get a story. Two hazelnut biscuits with a chocolate center, sold in a red packet, and eaten by roughly every child in Sweden for generations. They go with coffee, which is convenient, because coffee is not optional in Sweden.

Crispbread

Not sweet, but no list of Scandinavian food is complete without it. Knäckebröd has been baked in Sweden for centuries, and Leksands Original is the benchmark. Top it with butter and cheese and you have the Scandinavian answer to the afternoon slump. The sourdough triangles are the version to put out for guests.

Polkagrisar

The red and white peppermint sticks you see at Christmas began in the Swedish town of Gränna in 1859, where a widow named Amalia Eriksson was granted permission to make and sell them to support her daughter. A polkagris is still made the same way, and Gränna still makes them.

Shop Scandinavian Products

Now that you’re craving all of the above, have a look through our full selection of treats at the Scandinavian Shoppe.

While you’re visiting, you can learn more about traditional Scandinavian Lore and find other objects that are rich with Scandinavian culture and history.