Christmas

Risalamande

Risalamande is the dessert of the Danish Christmas Eve: cold rice pudding with chopped almonds, vanilla and whipped cream, served with warm cherry sauce. A whole almond is hidden in the bowl – and whoever finds it gets a small present.

Large bowl of creamy risalamande on a festively laid table
Photo: Malene Thyssen / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Preparation
30 min
Cooking/baking time
40 minplus 4 h resting time
Servings
6 people
Difficulty
Easy

Ingredients

Rice pudding

Risalamande

Cherry sauce

Method

  1. Bring the water and rice to the boil until the water is almost absorbed. Add the milk, the split vanilla pod with its seeds and the salt.
  2. Simmer over low heat, stirring often, for 35–40 minutes until thick. Remove the vanilla pod.
  3. Leave the rice pudding to cool completely, ideally overnight in the fridge.
  4. Stir the chopped almonds and sugar into the cold rice. Whip the cream and fold it in loosely. Hide the whole almond.
  5. For the sauce, heat the cherries with their juice and the sugar, thicken with the cornflour mixed with a little water and bring briefly to the boil.
  6. Serve the risalamande cold with the warm cherry sauce poured over it.

The story behind the dish

The name sounds French – “riz à l'amande”, rice with almonds – but the dessert is unknown in France. Risalamande is a Danish tradition documented from around 1900; it became the most popular Christmas dessert during rationing in and after the Second World War. Today it is the Christmas Eve dessert in many Danish families, complete with the hidden whole almond and an “almond present” for the finder.

Enjoy it at Dansk Cottage

Between Christmas and New Year on Ærø, with a crackling fire and long evenings, a bowl of risalamande is our favourite dessert. The fridge in the cottage has plenty of room to let the rice pudding set in peace.

The cottage kitchen · Discover Søby · Experience Ærø

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In the mood for Denmark?

Dansk Cottage in Søby can be booked from spring 2027 – with a spacious kitchen for exactly this kind of dish.

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