Riskrem (rice cream) is a Norwegian Christmas dessert. It’s rich, and ever so delicious.
It’s an almond-flavoured rice pudding, with whipped-cream folded in. Serve it with a berry sauce, and try not to eat the whole thing in one sitting.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup arborio rice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 cups milk
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- About 2 cups whipped cream (whip first, then measure). Use more, or less. Whatever.
- 1/2 cup almonds, chopped
- 1 whole almond, peeled
- red fruit sauce for topping (see below)
Directions
- In the top of a double boiler, cook the rice, salt, and milk together. It usually takes 60 to 90 minutes for the rice to soften and for the mixture to thicken.
- Add honey and almond extract. Maybe let the mixture cool off a bit.
- Mix in the chopped almonds and the one whole almond. (Sample at this point and note that you have a scrumptious rice pudding. Yum!)
- Stir in the whipped cream. (Now you’ve got a decadent dessert. Double yum.)
- Drizzle each serving with some red fruit sauce (See below.)
If you like, you can make the rice pudding, then refrigerate for a day or so before adding the whipped cream. If you do this you’ll want to re-heat the rice pudding enough for it to soften. Then you mix in the whipped cream – and almonds, if you haven’t already added them.
The person who receives the whole almond receives a little gift, traditionally a marzepan pig. (We skip the marzepan, since it’s high in sugar.) If you’re shopping for a marzipan pig, try your local European deli. Or find a recipe online and make your own!
This recipe is supposed to serve 8 people, but that all depends on how piggy you are.
Berry sauce for Riskrem
Ingredients
- Berries. About 2 packages (10 ounces / 283 g) of frozen berries. Raspberries, strawberries, or one of each! I like to add blackberries, too. (Lingonberries are probably the more traditional choice, but who has access to those? Not me.)
Directions
- Put berries into a saucepan.
- Gently heat. Squish berries with a potato masher or some such.
- Modify as desired. I just melt the berries into a sauce and call it done, but some people add sweetener, alcohol, or boil the sauce for a while to thicken it.