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    Home » Desserts

    Risalamande - A Danish Christmas Eve Dessert.

    December 12, 2024 by Karen 108 Comments

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    If you like rice pudding, you're going to love Risalamande, a churched-up Danish version of rice pudding that's full of almonds, velvety whipped cream & topped with a cherry sauce. 

    Risalamande in a clear glass with cherries and sauce dripping into the pudding.

    Skip right to the recipe.

    I know.  I don't even like dessert and I think it looks delicious.  More shocking is the fact that I think it tastes delicious. My favourite dessert is an extra salty bag of potato chips washed down with feta cheese brine.

    Although if I'm being honest over the past few years, sweet things have crossed my mind & mouth a lot more often.

    This Danish Christmas Eve dessert is a good transition dish if you're thinking of venturing into the world of sweet because it's sweet but not sickeningly so. No offence to all you full time sweets people.

    Also just so you know, Danes love butter and whipping cream, just as a general rule. And that is why we love the Dane's. Of course they offset all that goodness in their diet by eating pickled herring.  Nobody's perfect.

    Risengrød (rice pudding) has a long history of being loved in Denmark. Then in the 1800's, rich people decided that it was awfully embarrassing to be loving the same dessert that the peasants loved. At the same time they weren't willing to give up their bowls of rice pudding. I mean, who would? So the rich bougied their rice pudding up with the addition of expensive ingredients like whipping cream & almonds.

    I love it.

    I'm a big fan of rice pudding precisely because of the fact that it isn't too sweet.  It's rich and creamy and everyone knows that all the best desserts are made with rice.  Just ask my good friend Mango Sticky Rice.

    Risalamande (translates to almond rice) is what's traditionally served on Christmas Eve in Danish households. Except my childhood Danish household apparently, where tradition was to pass around Creme de Menthe and ashtrays.

    Making this dessert is really simple.  You cook some basic rice pudding, stir in some almonds and whipped cream then top it with cherry sauce.

    Table of Contents

    • Ingredients
    • Instructions
    • Risalamande - Danish Rice Pudding
    • Risalamande - Danish Rice Pudding

    Ingredients

    • white rice (long grain or arborio)
    • whole milk
    • sugar
    • salt
    • almonds (chopped, blanched)
    • 1 almond (whole)
    • whipping cream
    • vanilla
    • Cherry Sauce
    • frozen cherries
    • sugar (or to taste)
    • water
    • cornstarch
    • water

    See recipe card for quantities.

    Instructions

    You're just going to make rice pudding and mix in whipped cream really, then a quick cherry sauce and you're done.

    Would you like to save this stuff?

    We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.

    Make the rice pudding. When it's finished cooking you can stir in the almonds. Now start whipping the cream.

    Fold the whipped cream into the rice pudding. Also - don't forget to add one whole almond.

    Cook or warm up the cherry sauce.

    Spoon the warm sauce over the rice pudding and serve.

    The one extra special thing about Risalamande are the almonds.  And not just the almonds, but the one, single whole almond that gets added to it. 

    The tradition is to serve all of the rice pudding and whoever gets the whole almond wins a prize.  If you're the one who finds the almond  you're supposed to tuck it in your cheek or hide it so no one knows it's been found. 

    That way everyone is forced to eat all the rice pudding in the entire house thinking the almond might still be available to be found.

    Leftover rice pudding is a sin worse than carpeted bathrooms in a Danish household.

    Cheery glasses of danish rice pudding, Risalamande with cherry sauce on top, on a wood table surrounded with cedar branches and twinkle lights.

    You can go as complicated or as easy as you want with the cherry sauce. I made my own out of frozen cherries, sugar and water but if you like things easy and just want to dump a can of cherry pie filling on top, feel free.

    Just don't expect it to look like this if you do.  Cherry pie filling will be a bit gloppy, although if you heated it up it will become runnier.

    Risalamande - Danish Rice Pudding

    Risalamande - Danish Rice Pudding

    This Danish dessert is traditionally served on Christmas Eve but feel free to whip it up any time of year.
    4.63 from 32 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Dessert
    Cuisine: Danish
    Total Time: 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes
    Servings: 8
    Author: Karen

    Ingredients

    Rice Pudding

    • 1 cup white rice (long grain or arborio)
    • 6 cups whole milk
    • ¼ cup sugar
    • 1 pinch salt
    • 1 cup almonds (chopped, blanched)
    • 1 almond (whole)

    Whipped Cream

    • 1.5 cups whipping cream
    • 2 tablespoon sugar
    • 1 bean vanilla

    Cherry Sauce

    • 16 oz cherries (frozen)
    • 3 tablespoon sugar (or to taste)
    • ¼ cup water
    • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
    • 1 tablespoon water

    Instructions

    Rice Pudding

    • Add rice, milk, sugar and a pinch of salt to pot and heat until small bubbles start to form around edge of pot.  Stir occasionally.
    • Once bubbles form, cover pot with lid and simmer for apx 1 hour until rice is soft.  
    • Remove from heat and add in chopped almonds and 1 whole almond. Allow to cool.

    Whipped Cream

    • Whip 1.5 cups of whipping cream.  Once it starts to thicken, add the sugar.
    • Once whipped, gently stir in the seeds from one whole vanilla bean.

    Cherry Sauce

    • Mix together 1 tablespoon of cornstarch and 1 tablespoon of water to form a slurry.
    • Simmer cherries, ¼ cup of water and 3 tablespoons of sugar in a pot until the cherries are softened.  
    • Once softened and warm, add the slurry to the pot of cherries and bring to a slight boil.  Simmer until thickened.  Remove from heat.

    Putting it all together

    • Gently fold the whipped cream into the rice pudding.  Serve in bowls or cups, topped with the warm cherry sauce.

    Notes

    People will say IT IS VITALLY IMPORTANT YOU USE ARBORIO RICE.  It isn't vitally important.
    People will say IT IS VITALLY IMPORTANT TO USE REGULAR, LONG GRAIN WHITE RICE.  It isn't vitally important.
    In other words, use whichever you have and it'll be delicious.
    If you simmer your rice and milk mixture too long it'll get very stiff and solid after it has cooled. This is  normal, just add a bit of milk to loosen it up if you want, but the whipping cream will do all the loosening you need really.
    This is all done to taste. If you like a sweeter rice pudding, add more sugar. Ditto for the cherry sauce.
     

    Don't be alarmed at all the steps. It's not hard to make, but there are 3 components: the rice pudding, the whipped cream and the cherry sauce. 

     A big spoonful of rice pudding dripping with cherry sauce with glowing twinkle lights and cedar branches in the background.

    It even looks Christmassy which guests will appreciate, because not to appreciate something that looks like this - would be lunacy.

    Of special interest to anyone who is dieting, this dessert contains no calories at all provided you just look at it.

    Risalamande - A Danish Christmas Eve Dessert.

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    1. Robert Sturm

      January 27, 2025 at 11:59 pm

      Hallo,

      ich schreibe Ihnen gerade über Ihr Formular auf Ihrer Webseite, denn wir möchten gerne für Sie arbeiten und dafür sorgen, dass erstens Ihre Webseite noch besser gefunden wird, und zweitens Ihr Social Media weiter wächst.

      Denn wir haben in den letzten Jahren in unserem Master exakt gelernt, wie man genau diese Online-Themen erfolgreich umsetzt.

      So haben wir uns vorab bereits: 1. Über Google Ihre Webseite gründlich angesehen und dabei einige offene Punkte sowie spannende neue Chancen entdeckt und 2. bereits ein erstes Social-Media-Konzept (Facebook/Instagram) für Sie erstellt, das aktuell eine wertvolle Ergänzung zu Ihrem Online-Auftritt sein könnte.

      Wenn das für Sie gut klingt, dann antworten Sie mir sehr gerne kurz auf diese Nachricht.

      Danke Ihnen im Voraus und viele Grüße

      Robert Sturm

      Reply
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