As MD of D&D event creators, Alexander & Björck, Lena Björck knows a fair bit about entertaining, and what better way to welcome your nearest and dearest this festive season than with a traditional Swedish glögg?
RECIPE FOR LENA’S SWEDISH GLÖGG
(serves 10)
Glass: Demitasse coffee cup
Garnish: Raisins and blanched whole almonds (blanch 200g of almonds, once they have cooled mix with raisins and leave in a bowl so guests can add as much as they like to their glögg).
Ingredients
1 bottle of full-bodied Spanish red wine
300ml semi-sweet sherry
350ml cognac
300g caster sugar
225g raisins
6–8 cardamom pods
2 bitter almonds
1 cinnamon stick
1 vanilla pod
Method
- Remove the seeds from the cardamom pods, and scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod.
- Mix cardamom, vanilla, raisins, bitter almonds and cinnamon sticks in a bowl, add in 100ml cognac, cover with cling film and leave for two days, then sieve out spices.
- Dissolve the sugar in a little boiling water before adding the red wine, the spiced cognac, the additional cognac and the sherry.
- Gently warm and served with the blanched almonds and raisins.