Plums in Madeira

Plums in Madeira served over vanilla ice cream

Plums in Madeira is a classic danish dessert from the 70's and 80's, serves over ice cream or with whipped cream.

My parents made these to preserve the huge amounts of plums (Rivers' Early) they had in their yard.

This year I found some plums, at the local farmers marked, that looked and tasted like my childhood plums.

My hobby had never had these plums and thought that I had another crazy idea. But after tasting the syrup I poured over the plums, he knew we had a winner on our hands.

Now we just have to wait, and wait a month or two, before we can taste the lovely treat. 

June 8th 2014: We finally had a chance to taste the plums in Madeira, and they are to die for. The liquid is like liquid gold, and you can almost drink it from the jar. We have to make more this year !!!!

This recipe is an old classic from "Den grønne syltebog" from 1939 by "Tørsleffs Husmoder Service".

Ingredients:

• 1 kg plums
• 2 dl water
• 650 g sugar
•  2 dl madeira
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste

Directions:

Clean and pit the plums. Save the pits, crack them and put the little nut inside the plum.

Put the plums in cleaned, scalded jars. 

Cook the water and sugar until all the sugar is dissolved. Remove the the foam before adding the madeira and vanilla. 

Pour the madeira syrup over the plums.  

Stir the plums in madeira once every day for 3-4 days, the seal the jar. 

After 2-3 months the plums are sweet, soft and ready to eat. 

Enjoy!

Koldskål - Cold Sweet Buttermilk Soup

Strawberry Koldskål - Cold Sweet Strawberry Buttermilk Soup

Koldskål, or kærnemælkskoldskål, is a sweet cold soup made from buttermilk. Koldskål is mostly eaten in the summer months. It's normally a dessert, but is also served as a light and fast dinner on a hot day.

My mom made koldskål with eggs, sugar, vanilla and buttermilk, but I make mine without eggs, and I think it's just as good. Sometimes I add some whipping cream to make it more creamy. Serve the koldskål the traditional way with lemon juice, kammerjunker and an iceberg (raw meringue), or with a sprinkle of granola. Koldskål is easy to change up by adding your favorite fruit, I used Strawberries here.

This is my first time making koldskål in my vitamix, and I think I got way to much air incorporated this time, Next time, I'll mix the koldskål at a lower speed, to avoid all the bubbles. 

Ingredients:

• 1 quart buttermilk

• 170 ml (6 fl oz) yogurt with vanilla

• 1 dl whipping cream (optional)

• 1 lemon, the juice of, (I used the juice of 2 meyer lemons)

• 85 g sugar (start with a little less, and add more if needed)

• 1 vanilla pod, the seeds from, or 1 teaspoon vanilla paste

For Strawberry koldskål, add 6-12 strawberries.

Directions:

Put all the ingredients into a blender, and blend until you have a homogenous mixture. Add more sugar and/or lemon juice if needed.

Serve the koldskål cold and with the topping of your liking.

Enjoy!

Koldskål - Cold Sweet Buttermilk Soup

Cherry sauce - kirsebærsauce

Cherry sauce - kirsebærsauce

This cherry sauce can be used on ice or puddings, but I always make this for my christmas dessert, risalamande. 

Growing up my parents had a cherry tree in their yard. Every year, my mom would preserve cherries to use for Christmas. The best part of my moms preserved cherries was the small nuts from inside the cherry-stone. After being preserved, the tasted like almonds, so yummy.

When I turned 9, my parents decided to move, and in their new yard, there were no cherry tree. And this was the end of homemade preserved cherries in my family. Now we had to eat store bought cherry sauce, like most other danes. 

Moving to the US, gave me a challenge with the cherry sauce, but one of my Danish friends, who moved to the US 4-5 years earlier than me, had the answer. You make your own cherry sauce from caned cherries. 

This is Mrs. Olsen's recipe for cherry sauce - well I might have tweaked it a bit, but the credits goes to Mrs Olsen. 

Ingredients:

• 1 can pitted cherries in heavy syrup
• 1 cup (250 ml) concentrated cherry juice
• 2-3 tablespoons sugar
• ½ lemon, the juice from
• cornstarch
• water

Directions:

Heat the cherries, cherry juice and sugar in a saucepan, bring it to a boil. Dissolve the cornstarch in cold water. Thicken the sauce with the cornstarch. Add lemon juice and sugar to taste. A spash of cherry liqueur only makes the sauce better.

Serve this sauce with ice cream, puddings or on risalamande.