The Ritual Master We’re almost at the end of our Advent journey together, and so I’ve kept one of the most endearing Scandinavian Christmas traditions for last.
The traditional dessert for Christmas in Denmark, but also Sweden and Norway is a special rice pudding called risalamande.
Inspired by the French riz à l’amande, the northern version has been created in the late 19th century, when rice, almonds and cinnamon became more easily available. After World War II, risalamande experienced an increase in popularity, being touted as a “savings” dessert.
We start by making a classic rice pudding, with whole or vegetable milk and round rice. Modern recipes tell you that you can start by making this the night before, since you need to chill the basic pudding before proceeding to the next step. History however teaches us that in the olden days, people would prepare a plain rice pudding for dinner on the evening of December 23rd, called Little Christmas Eve. And any leftovers would be used the next evening to make risalamande.
Chop some blanched almonds, making sure you keep one whole one for the lucky winner of the evening. Finally, make a nice chantilly, or whipped cream from 2 cups of heavy cream and a couple of tablespoons of powdered sugar. We’re ready to start assembling.
Gently fold the cinnamon and almonds into the chilled rice pudding, then gradually incorporate the whipped cream with slow folding motions so that you don’t loose all the fluffy consistency. Make sure you mix in the whole almond as well, then refrigerate for an hour.
Serve into festive cups and top with cherry sauce (to be honest I have no idea what Danish cherry sauce tastes like so I used my go-to cherries that I simply adore, Italian amarena in syrup by Fabbri).
Whoever gets the whole almond in his cup wins a marzipan pig or a chocolate heart.
Here is my favourite part of this whole tradition : it is said that risalamande is the dish eaten by the nisser, the Christmas elves. So families put out a bowl of rice pudding for the elves to feast upon, and if eaten, it demonstrates the very existence of nisser.
My personal Christmas elf is not very shy, so I can even watch her feasting on the risalamande. I think we’re all ready for Christmas to come !
See you tomorrow for an enchanted walk in a Christmas wonderland, as we say goodbye to our Scandinavian Advent Calendar and welcome the joy of Christmas.
