Two Ingredient Swedish Christmas Chocolates (Ischoklad)
Swedish ischoklad, one of Sweden’s favourite festive candies, take the hard work out of making your own Christmas treats. Made with only two ingredients (melted chocolate and coconut fat), they can be decorated with anything you fancy, such as nuts, coconut, or crushed candy canes.
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What is ischoklad?
Like many older and more traditional recipes, the origins of ischoklad (directly translated as ice chocolate) are a little blurred. Although an incredibly popular candy over the festive period in Sweden, it appears that the melt-in-the-mouth delicacy originated in Germany. To Germans and Austrians, it is referred to as eiskonfekt (ice candy), and is not specifically eaten at Christmas.
Before coming to Sweden, I had never tried anything quite like ischoklad. And don’t let the name fool you: these Swedish Christmas chocolates have nothing to do with being frozen. The name comes from their unique texture, which is a combination of coconut fat and melted chocolate, that melts like ice on the tongue.
The ingredients of ischoklad
The two classic ingredients of ischoklad are chocolate and coconut fat. When I first posted this recipe (several years ago), I stated that it was coconut butter. However, the coconut fat used is a little different to coconut butter and comes in block form here in Sweden (this is the brand of coconut fat I use).
If you are unable to get hold of block coconut fat, you could use any kind of coconut oil, whether that is in a jar or liquid. You are going to melt the coconut fat anyway, so I am sure that it won’t make much difference to the end result.
While I am confident coconut butter mixed with melted chocolate would taste divine, it wouldn’t give you quite the same results as coconut fat. Coconut butter is made from the whole coconut, whereas coconut fat, as the name suggests, is purely the fat that has been extracted. Coconut oil quickly melts into a liquid, but coconut fat may retain some graininess, which would affect the smooth texture we are going for.
How to make ischoklad
If only two ingredients are not enough to tempt you to make this candy, the fact that all you need to do is melt the chocolate and coconut together in a pan and pour into pretty, bright coloured candy cases should give you a final push to get these made. Of course, you need to let the candies set, but there is nothing complicated about the recipe at all.
Additional ingredients for ischoklad
These Swedish Christmas chocolates are amazingly versatile – you can add any flavour to the chocolate. Mint is delicious, and really adds to the festive experience. Or, if adults are partaking, why not a touch of rum or cognac?
Although the base recipe only has two ingredients, you can use whatever toppings you like. In the above picture, I used nuts to decorate mine: salted peanuts, pistachios and almonds. However, you could use coconut or even fruit. You could even go all festive and add candy cane, or crumbled gingerbread cookies?
Dark chocolate works amazingly well in this recipe, but I know that the rather bitter taste is not to everyone’s liking. Use milk or white chocolate, or even a combination. You could even stir in some additional ingredients like finely chopped nuts, if you liked.
Other no-bake festive treats
- Gingerbread chocolate truffles (just three ingredients)
- No-bake white chocolate and mascarpone cheesecake (with sugar cranberries)
- Gingerbread chocolate honeycomb
- Candy cane milk chocolate truffles
- Gingerbread rocky road
- Christmas chocolate salami
- Candied clementine peel
Swedish Christmas Chocolates
Ingredients
- 200g (7 oz) chocolate (see note 1)
- 100g (3½ oz) coconut fat (see note 2)
- nuts - optional (see note 3)
- flavours - optional (see note 4)
Instructions
- Gently melt the chocolate and coconut fat in a pan. Be careful not to over-heat, all you need is for to just melt.
- Pour into small candy cases (the above ingredients made 40 small candies), or a candy mould. Sprinkle with whatever you fancy.
- Allow the chocolates to harden (if you're in a hurry, pop them in the fridge for a while). Enjoy!
Notes
- You can use absolutely any chocolate you like. This time, I made mine with milk chocolate.
- In Sweden we have blocks of something called kokosfett. The direct translation is "coconut fat". If you can't access it, you could use coconut oil, but the end result might vary a little. See the main post for more information.
- I used nuts this time, but you can top with candy cane, crushed cookies, fruit, or whatever else you fancy!
- Add a drop of mint essence, rum or cognac to the mixture (just stir it into the melted chocolate and oil/butter).