It’s Day 22 of The Creative Collective’s Scandinavian Christmas calendar, and I’m so happy to share this easy recipe for a beautiful golden saffron cheesecake with a gingersnap crust.

Saffron buns (“lussekatter”) are one of those things that make a Swedish Christmas a Swedish Christmas. I think it’s fun to find new ways to present the classic taste, scent and colour of saffron, and this cheesecake is one of my favourite ways to do it. It’s fresh and a little tangy which makes it the perfect finish to our rather heavy, and salty, Swedish Christmas dinners.

Click past the break for the recipe!

No-Bake Saffron Cheesecake with a Gingersnap Crust

Ingredients

45 ginger snap cookies (around 300 gr) – I used Swedish pepparkakor

150 gr butter

1 gr saffron (often sold in 1/2 gram packets)

2 Tbsp fresh-squeezed lemon juice

600 gr cream cheese

1 tin sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla

pomegranate to garnish

Instructions

1. Melt the butter. Crush the cookies until they are very fine crumbs (I use an immersion blender. A food processor or a plastic bag and a rolling pin work equally well). Mix butter and crumbs together and press the mixture into a 9-inch springform pan. Flatten the bottom and press the crumb mix 1.5 – 2 inches up the sides of the pan. Chill for at least ten minutes.
2. If your saffron is not ground (i.e. it’s in strings), grind it in a pestel and mortar with some sugar. Dissolve the saffron in the lemon juice.
3. To make the filling, beat the cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl using an electric mixer at medium-high until smooth. Beat in the condensed milk, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go. Beat in the saffron mixture and vanilla.
4. Pour the filling into the crust and smooth the top with a spatula. Cover with plastic wrap and leave to set in the fridge for at least two and a half hours.
5. Unclasp the side of the pan and serve the cheesecake topped fresh red pomegranate. Enjoy!

Notes

If you have more filling than you have space in your crust – crumble one or two gingersnaps in a small glass or jar, and then fill it up with cheesecake filling. A delicious little treat!

I hope you make this cheesecake and bring a bit of Swedish Christmas into your holiday season!

And I hope you’re following along with The Creative Collective Sweden’s Christmas Calendar on Facebook and Instagram so you don’t miss a thing. Yesterday Marie at Musqot Design shared these absolutely lovely Christmas stockings, and tomorrow it’s Åsa from @ My Casa‘s turns to share a creative Christmas project with you.

Also: saffron biscotti and saffron truffles. Both amazing recipes to add to your Swedish Christmas repertoire.