Traditional Swedish Rice Pudding

Mr. S is 100% of Swedish Heritage!

There are a lot of holiday food traditions that go along with that Swedish Heritage!

Grandma Marion in the Christmas Eve Kitchen!

I can’t tell you how many Christmas Eve afternoons I spent in the kitchen with my Mother-in-Law learning the ins and outs of Swedish holiday food!

The other tradition: Dinner was served at 5PM SHARP!

It was always interesting to see if the “boys” would get back from their drive around the countryside (subtext…..sharing some liquid Holiday Cheer) in time for dinner!

So….I know how to make Lutefisk…..but I never do!

I know how to boil a Swedish Potato Sausage and I even have the recipe should I want to stuff some pig innards some time!

(Probably NOT)

I make a wicked white sauce….no brainer….!

And even though I can make the powder sugar covered tea cake cookies….I let my brother-in-law make them as his are almost identical to Grandma Marion’s!

The one staple of the Swedish Holiday Smorgasbord that I always make….

Rice Pudding with Lingonberry Sauce!

Here is the recipe in the Swedish “Women’s” Covenant Cookbook!

Mr. S is always sure to comment about a recipe from this cookbook: “That should be good because so and so always brought the best food to church!”

Anyway….you can see that I needed to put a mark by the recipe we like as there are several competing recipes in the book!

I use the ingredients listed but don’t go into the elaborate way of putting the pudding together!

Sweetwater Rice Pudding

2 1/2 Cups Cooked White Rice (I cook mine in the rice cooker ahead of time)

3 Eggs beaten

3 Cups mix of Skim Milk and Half and Half (because we never have Whole Milk)

1/2 Cup sugar….although I think I always add a bit more because people like it sweeter)

1tsp Vanilla

dash salt

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Nutmeg

1 Whole Almond

Preheat oven to 350

Beat the eggs, milk sugar and spices together

Add the cooked rice and stir to mix well

Put in center of the oven on a baking pan filled with water.

Bake until center is set….about 40 minutes…

Halfway through….push the whole almond into the center of the dish….

Why the almond?…tradition has it that the person who finds the almond in his/her serving will have good luck for the whole year!

Lingonberry Sauce

If you don’t know what a lingonberry is….it is sort of a tiny little cranberry that is even more tart. You can buy them frozen in our Minnesota grocery stores during the holidays.

They are really a crimson treasure!

To prepare the sauce…..mix the frozen berries and the juice in the container with half a container of water.

Add a 1/2 cup of sugar…..bring to a boil and simmer for about 45 minutes on low.

Pour in a glass container (so you can see the gorgeous color)

Refrigerate!

The sweetness of the pudding and the tartness of the Lingonberries are a perfect pairing!