This pudding is our take on a traditional Danish summer pudding called Rødgrød med fløde. Rødgrød med fløde. Traditionally made with a mix of currents, strawberries, and rhubarb, it’s usually thickened with potato starch. In our version, we’re using fresh local strawberries and raspberries with just a hint of rose and thickening it with a cornstarch and egg slurry instead of potato starch.
Keep in mind, this recipe is extremely versatile. It can be made with any mixture of berries and stone fruit. You could add rhubarb as the traditional recipe does, making sure to stew the fruit before blending it smooth. If fresh berries aren’t available, frozen can be substituted. Thaw the frozen berries and drain off any water or juices that accumulate before proceeding with the recipe.
While growing up, Emily’s mother made this dish with stone fruit such as plums and peaches. She simply called it fruit compote.
Gluten-Free: This fruit pudding recipe is naturally gluten-free.
Vegan Pudding
If you are vegan or prefer an egg-free pudding, just leave the egg yolks out of the recipe. The texture will be a bit more gelled and not as velvety, but the flavors will still be just as delicious!
The secret underlying flavor of this pudding is rose.
Rose adds a delicate flavor and just a note of extra floral and sweetness to the berries. We created a rose-flavored simple syrup to sweeten this pudding instead of using sugar.
Ingredients:
Simple Syrup:
Sugar. Any sugar you have will work. We’ve made this with both regular cane sugar and brown sugar. The color of the syrup is darker than the brown sugar, but it doesn’t seem to affect the finished color or taste of the pudding.
Dried rose petals. Make sure the rose petals you use are food-grade and organic. SpiceTopia’s Rose Petals are both and provide a beautiful dark pink hue as well as a delicate floral flavor to this simple syrup.
Cornstarch or Cornflour: Sometimes called maize starch or cornflour, cornstarch is a starch made from the endosperm of the corn kernel. Mixing it with water creates a Non-Newtonian Fluid–which to us means it magically thickens foods when heated!
Salt: As with most sweets, just a bit of salt helps to balance and bring out the sweetness. We like using Pacific Flake Sea Salt which has a clean fresh flavor.
Egg Yolks: Use large eggs for this dessert, carefully separating the yolks from the whites. Adding whites to the pudding could cause scrambled egg bits to form in your pudding.
Berries: Any kind of berry could be used. We like to use fresh in-season berries, but frozen berries will work as well. Just make sure to drain the watery juicy liquid that can accumulate when thawing your fruit.
Lemon Juice: Just a bit of sour helps to balance and round out the sweetness of this dish.
Technique:
As with all our recipes, the recipe is more about the technique than the actual ingredients. The technique of using a cornstarch egg mixture (or slurry) is one that can be used to make just about any flavor of pudding. It’s the same technique used to make a traditional chocolate or vanilla pudding, and we challenge you to practice the technique with this recipe and then use it to make your own creation!
To Make Your Slurry
Put the cornstarch and salt into a medium bowl. If the cornstarch appears lumpy, use a spoon to break up the lumps. Stir the egg yolks into the cornstarch. Add 3-4 tablespoons of your Rose Simple Syrup. It will seize up and become really thick at this point. Thin out your mixture by adding one tablespoon of water at a time while stirring. After 3-4 tablespoons, your mixture should be smooth and easy to stir. If you are not using the egg for this mixture, add the water before adding the syrup. Set aside for tempering the slurry.
Tempering Your Slurry
This is the technique that uses the magic of cornstarch! If the cornstarch mixture were simply poured into the hot berries, it would clump up and you would have a lumpy, gluey mess and to top it off, the egg might scramble. By slowly combining the cornstarch and egg with the hot berries, you temper the cornstarch slurry–or slowly bring its temperature up, therefore, stabilizing it. Pour 1 cup of the hot berry mixture into the cornstarch slurry. Stir until well combined. Then pour that mixture back into the hot pan of berries. Stir for one minute.
Simple Syrup
Simple Syrup is just as its title implies–simple! It’s often the base for cocktails and other drinks such as lemonade and iced teas. It’s easy to flavor simple syrups with botanicals, herbs, fruits, teas, citrus zest, and even chile peppers. This recipe uses rose petals to add a subtle rose flavor to this berry pudding.
Creating simple syrup is just combining water and sugar in a one-to-one ratio and cooking until the sugar dissolves. In this recipe after dissolving the sugar, rose petals are added. Let the rose petals steep for 20 minutes before straining. But don’t throw those rose petals away! If you would like to make another batch of syrup to use in cocktails or pour over pound cake, you can at this point reuse the rose petals for a second batch of syrup.
Watch Emily & Eliah create this recipe step by step:
If you’d like to learn more about cooking with different spices, SpiceScription may be for you!
Rose Berry Pudding
Rose Berry Pudding Recipe
Instructions
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Rose Berry Pudding Recipe
Combine 1 cup water with 1 cup sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and stir until the sugar is dissolved.
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Turn down to a simmer and add the rose petals. Simmer for 2 minutes.
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Turn off the heat and allow the rose petals to steep in the syrup for 20 minutes.
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While the rose petals are steeping, wash, dry, and slice your berries.
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After the rose petals have steeped for 20 minutes, strain the rose petals from the syrup
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In a blender or food processor, puree the berries with lemon juice and puree. Add a few tablespoons of simple syrup if liquid is needed to get the berries blending.
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If needed, strain the seeds from your berry mixture.
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Place berries and lemon juice in a medium saucepan and bring just to a simmer.
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While the berries come to a simmer, create your cornstarch slurry. Combine the cornstarch, salt, and egg yolks in a bowl and stir together. It will be clumpy.
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Add 3-4 tablespoons of your Rose Simple Syrup. It will seize up and become really thick at this point. Thin it out by adding one tablespoon of water at a time while stirring. After 3-4 tablespoons, your mixture should be smooth and easy to stir. If you are not using the egg for this mixture, add the water before adding the syrup.
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After the berries come to a simmer, turn the heat off. Pour 1 cup of the hot berry mixture into the cornstarch slurry. Stir until well combined. Then pour that mixture back into the hot pan of berries. Stir for one minute.
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Turn the heat back on and bring the mixture to a full boil. You'll want to stir the mixture frequently. As the mixture comes to a boil it will thicken and your bubbles will make a plopping or glopping noise! Simmer for just a minute or two.
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Turn off the heat. Immediately put your pudding into the dish you plan to serve it in. We like to serve this in little jars, but anything from a large bowl to little custard bowls will work. To keep it from forming a thicker layer on top, cover it with plastic wrap or wax paper before chilling in the refrigerator for at least two hours.
Note
Enjoy!