Risalamande
A Christmas Cocktail
This is a festive and amazing Christmas cocktail. Risalamande is a traditional Danish Christmas dessert, and this is an original World of Mixology cocktail inspired by it. The dessert is a rice pudding with whipped cream, vanilla and chopped almonds, served with a cherry sauce, typically on Christmas eve. Using all these ingredients as inspiration, we’ve seeked to combine the flavors of cherry, vanilla and almond, in one delicious after-dinner or dessert cocktail, perfect for the holidays. The central ingredient of this cocktail is the cherry liqueur. While any type of cherry liqueur could probably work, this cocktail was originally designed around the use of “Vișinată”. “Vișinată” is a Romanian liqueur made from sour-cherries and commonly homemade, especially in the countryside of Romania. Inspired by our own story, this cocktail conveys the marriage of Danish and Romanian culture.
Ingredients
Cherry Liqueur
30 ml
Amaretto
30 ml
Vanilla Liqueur
30 ml
Vodka
30 ml
Lemon
15 ml
Simple Syrup
15 ml
Instructions
Chill your serving glass
Add ingredients to shaker
Pour and fine-strain
Garnish
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Ingredient #1
Cherry Liqueur
Heering Cherry Liqueur
Ingredient #2
Amaretto
Disaronno Amaretto
Ingredient #3
Vanilla Liqueur
Galliano Vanilla
Ingredient #4
Vodka
Sobieski
History
This cocktail is a World of Mixology original and since it’s a relatively new creation it doesn’t have a lot of history. However, the dessert of the same name that was used as an inspiration does. Risalamande is a Danish dessert from the 19th century. It’s inspired by the French dessert riz à l’impératrice, and gained popularity during the second World War. At the time, Denmark was under German occupation and the imported ingredients for the traditional rice pudding were in low supply. In order to make the pudding last longer, cream was added as an ingredient and that is how today’s beloved dessert was born. When eating this dessert on Christmas Eve, tradition dictates that one whole almond is added to the bowl in which the dessert is served from and the person who finds the almond, receives a present. We hope that you will enjoy this Christmas Cocktail with your family and friends during the holidays.
Flavor profile
This cocktail is rich and sweet in taste. Upfront, it delivers the sweet sensation of cherries. As the sweet and sour taste of the cherries settles, the almond taste from the amaretto becomes present creating a rich nutty flavor. Everything is supported by the subtle vanilla notes from the Galliano, which stay in the background, but create complexity and depth. All these flavors work together to create a cocktail-interpretation of a traditional Christmas dessert. While well balanced, this cocktail is quite sweet and it is, therefore, perfect to serve with dessert.