First of all, I just wanted to thank everyone for all of your nice comments and emails that you have left me during the 12 Days of Christmas series. It has been such a great pleasure and I have had a lot of fun in creating this series and now that it has come to a conclusion it is almost a little bittersweet. The positive response I have gotten has been unexpected and very impressive, it has brought back a lot of wonderful memories for myself and I am happy that I have been able to share some of them with you. I look forward to bringing you more delicious food and desserts and feel free to stop by My Danish Kitchen any time you like. Merry Christmas and Glædelig Jul to everyone.
Archive for the ‘12 Days of Christmas’ Category
12 Days of Christmas – Conclusion
Posted in 12 Days of Christmas, Other, tagged baking, christmas, cooking, dessert, food, jul, julebagning, småkager on December 12, 2010|
12 Days of Christmas – Risalamande – Almond Rice Pudding
Posted in 12 Days of Christmas, Christmas, Danish, Dessert, tagged cherry, cherry sauce, christmas, Danish, danmark, dansk, denmark, dessert, jul, kirsebærsovs, mandelgaven, pudding, rice pudding, ris a la mande, risengrød, sauce on December 10, 2010| 33 Comments »
During the 1800’s the citizen’s of Copenhagen felt the need to separate themselves from the farming community and this also affected our Christmas food. They added whipped cream and almonds to our beloved Danish Risengrød and called it Risalamande to give it some French flair, because that is what was in fashion at that time. Kristeligt Dagblad
Danish Christmas Tradition: Mandelgaven (the Almond Present)
Today you still see Ris a la mande served in most Danish households on Christmas Eve. Since then, we have add a warm Cherry Sauce to top it off and traditionally a fun game goes along with eating this wonderful Christmas treat. A single whole Almond is blanched and stirred into the Risalamande to hide it. The dish is served after Christmas dinner and whoever finds the almond wins a gift. The problem with the Almond gift is that the winner could be anyone from a child to grandmother. This is often solved by giving a traditional small Marzipan pig as the gift, but today, the gift could be anything. Also, there is a lot of cheating going on with this game. Some may choose to place an Almond in each of the children’s bowls so all the children gets a gift. I think my Mom did that one year but we thought the game should be done “the right way”. I can honestly say that I have never won this game. The winner in our home was typically my Dad. He would often times get the almond and then he would keep it hidden against his cheek until all the Risalamande was eaten up. Sneaky. One year my Dad took pity on me and gave me the Almond under the table 🙂 but I didn’t feel right taking the gift since I did not honestly win it.
I should also mention that some households may chop blanched Almonds into small pieces and add them to the dish. We have never done this at our house, instead pure Almond Extract is added giving the dish a wonderful Almond flavor. This dish is by far one of the biggest highlights of Christmas for me and I continue to serve it every single year, for it would not be Christmas without it.
Update:
I am very honored to be asked to participate in the LexioPhiles International Recipe Advent Calendar 2011. My recipe for Risalamande with warm Cherry sauce will appear on December 2nd, 2011. LexioPhiles will feature a new recipe every day during the month of December from bloggers around the world.
Ingredients for 1st stage – Risengrød:
1 1/4 cup water
1 cup rice (Grødris)
4 1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
Ingredients for 2nd stage – Risalamande:
1 1/2 cup whipping cream
3 tablespoon confectioners sugar
4 teaspoon pure almond extract
2 whole almonds
For the Cherry Sauce:
15 oz can Oregon Bing Cherries in heavy syrup
1 tablespoon cornstarch
water
Directions:
Place water and rice in a medium cooking pot, cover with a lid and simmer for 2 minutes. Add milk and vanilla sugar and simmer covered over low heat for 40-45 minutes. Stir often to make sure the milk does not burn, especially the last 30 minutes. You may have to turn the heat all the way down as low as your stove will allow for the last 15 minutes.
Place in Tupperware and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
Once mixture is completely cooled remove from refrigerator and break it up with a spoon. In a small bowl add whipping cream, confectioners sugar and almond extract. Beat with a handheld mixer until you see tracks from beaters in the cream. Add half of the whipping cream to rice mixture and combine well with a spoon, add remaining whipping cream in small increments. The final texture should be creamy and easily mixed with the spoon. Place covered in refrigerator until ready to serve.
To blanch almonds. Place almonds in a small dish and pour boiling water over to cover. Let sit in water for 1 minute, drain and rinse with cold water. Pat dry and slip the skins off. I usually blanch two almonds in case I have trouble with one. Before serving Risalamande, place one blanched almond in mixture and stir well to hide almond.
In a small dish mix together the cornstarch and some water to form the thickening agent. In a small saucepan bring cherry and syrup to a simmer. Add the cornstarch/water mixture to cherries a little at the time, stirring until syrup starts to thicken. Simmer for 1 minute and remove from heat.
Serve Risalamande cold with the warm cherry sauce on top.
Glædelig Jul and Merry Christmas♥
Source: My Danish Kitchen
12 Days of Christmas – Risengrød – Rice Porridge
Posted in 12 Days of Christmas, Christmas, Danish, Dessert, tagged christmas, Danish, danmark, dansk, denmark, dessert, jul, nisse, porridge, rice, rice porridge, ris a la mande, risengrød on December 6, 2010| 28 Comments »
Danish Christmas Tradition: Nissen (a mythical creature of Scandinavian Folklore)
The Danish Nisse is a fictional character which has its roots from the 1800’s farming community. Nissen would help with the successful drift of the farm, that is, if you were respectful of the nisse and if you behaved yourself. A special dish which were served for Christmas is Risengrød. It may not seem special by todays measure, but back then milk, rice, butter, sugar and cinnamon was a commodity. And so, it makes sense that Nissen would be part of a festive event like Christmas.
Today, the Nisse folklore is still alive and well, but in a different way. Songs have been written about the Nissen and he’s often seen in Children’s Christmas calendars whether it be on TV or on paper. He is an important part of decorating for Christmas in Denmark and Risengrød is still his favorite meal. In the picture above, which is part of my Christmas Tree skirt, you can see the Nissen getting ready to eat his Risengrød.
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup water
1 cup rice (Grødris)
4 1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
butter
sugar
cinnamon
Directions:
Place water and rice in a medium cooking pot, cover with a lid and simmer for 2 minutes. Add milk, salt and vanilla sugar and simmer covered over low heat for 40-45 minutes. Stir often to make sure the milk does not burn, especially the last 30 minutes. You may have to turn the heat all the way down as low as your stove will allow for the last 15 minutes.
Mix sugar and cinnamon together according to your taste. Serve the Risengrød warm, sprinkled with sugar/cinnamon mixture and place a dollop of butter in the center, letting the butter melt.
Glædelig Jul and Merry Christmas♥
Source: My Danish Kitchen
12 Days of Christmas – Gløgg – Danish Mulled Wine
Posted in 12 Days of Christmas, Christmas, Danish, Drinks, tagged almonds, christmas, Danish, dansk, drinks, gløgg, jul, mulled wine, raisins, spices, warm, wine on November 26, 2010| 13 Comments »
In the weeks leading up to Christmas there are many “get togethers” at work, in town, schools, clubs, friends and family stopping by to say hello. You can serve just about anything for your guests, really, or you could serve the traditional warm drink Gløgg and some warm Danish Æbleskiver. This combination is especially wonderful when you are coming in from the freezing cold outside.
Gløgg was imported to Denmark from our neighbors in Sweden and it started to take hold on the Danes in the years around WWII. There are many variations of Gløgg recipes out there and no one correct way to make it. Some contain brandy, cognac, port wine, vodka or snaps but the base is almost always red wine, although there are also some white wine versions, as well as non-alcoholic children’s versions. Back in the old days it was also thought to have some healing effects for winter depression, well at least for a short while 😉
Ingredients:
1 bottle red wine
1 cup white port wine
1 tablespoon Cardamom pods
1 stick Cinnamon
8 whole Cloves
4 pieces crystalized ginger
1 1/2 deciliter dark brown sugar (1/2 cup)
1 cup raisins
slivered almonds
Directions:
Place the cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, cloves, crystalized ginger and sugar in the port and red wine overnight or at least 1-2 hours before serving. Before serving, gently heat the liquid on the stove but do not allow to boil. Run the wine through a sieve to remove the spices, then add the raisins and almonds to the wine and serve warm.
Glædelig Jul and Merry Christmas ♥
Source: My Danish Kitchen
12 Days of Christmas – Æbleskiver (Aebleskiver)
Posted in 12 Days of Christmas, Christmas, Danish, Dessert, tagged aebleskiver, æbleskiver, christmas, Danish, dansk, gløgg, jul, pancakes on November 22, 2010| 21 Comments »
Æbleskiver is a tasty Danish dessert that looks like round puffy pancakes. The word æbleskive means apple slice and it first appeared in the middle ages where slices of apple were dipped in a batter and fried. When the æbleskive pan was introduce sometime in the 1700’s, æbleskiver were baked with small pieces of apple or prunes in the center. Today in Denmark æbleskiver is typically baked without anything in the center and they are served with a strawberry, lingonberry or raspberry jam or simply just dipped in sugar.
Æbleskiver are often served during the Christmas month perhaps as a special treat at a Christmas fair, when family or friends are visiting, little Christmas Eve (Dec 23rd) or maybe New Years Day. These Danish delicacies are served warm with a dusting of powdered sugar and sometimes with a warm glass of either red or white Gløgg.
Æbleskiver (makes 35)
Ingredients:
60 gram butter (4 tablespoon) – melted and set aside
250 gram flour (2 cups)
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 large eggs
4 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon Cardamom
1 cup whipping cream
1 cup buttermilk
a pinch of salt
zest of 1 lemon
Directions:
Melt butter and set aside. Sift flour and baking powder in a bowl. In a second bowl, beat eggs, sugar and cardamom until frothy and lighter in color. In a third bowl, stir together the buttermilk and cream. Taking turns, add flour and buttermilk to egg mixture while beating, mix until smooth. Add salt, lemon zest and cooled butter, stir to mix. Place batter in refrigerator and let rest 30 minutes. If batter is very thick after resting add a little more buttermilk. Use Canola oil or butter for frying.
Tips:
Must have a Æbleskive pan for cooking, making sure it is well seasoned if cast iron.
Traditionally, æbleskiver are turned with a thin knitting needle (why a knitting needle ? not sure, but you can find a knitting needle in most Danish households and the metal needle works really well grabbing the æbleskive to rotate in a cast iron pan). If you don’t have a knitting needle, try using a metal skewer or it can be done with a fork although a bit clumsy.
Make sure your heat is high enough, medium heat.
Make sure to preheat your pan, 5 to 10 minutes.
Use enough oil or butter for frying.
Some source recommend turning the æbleskiver in 1/3 turns or 1/4 turns while others turn them in 1/2 turns. Try the different methods and see what you feel most comfortable with. Here is a link with a video on how to make and turn the æbleskiver.
If you’re having trouble with the æbleskiver turning out right, don’t worry, the first pan-full rarely turn out perfect, keep going.
Æbleskiver can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 4 months.
Glædelig Jul and Merry Christmas♥
Source: My Danish Kitchen