AN OLD-FASHIONED HOLIDAY DESSERT

An old-fashioned walnut pudding gets updated--a luscious holiday dessert. 

On the caseríos (farmsteads) of Euskadi (the Basque Country), a traditional finale for the family feast of Noche Buena (Christmas Eve) once was intxaursaltsa, or, in Spanish, crema de nueces—walnut cream. Originally it was a simple pudding of crushed walnuts cooked with milk, sugar and cinnamon. 

The original: walnuts, milk, sugar and cinnamon.

As described by María José Sevilla in her book Life and Food in the Basque Country (Weidenfeld & Nicolson; 1989), Intxaursaltsa is a very old recipe from the caserío where there are always one or two walnut trees which give an excellent crop each year. Traditionally the shelled walnuts are wrapped in a thick, white cloth and crushed with a wooden mallet until they form a smooth paste. The paste is cooked in boiling water with cinnamon until the water has nearly evaporated. Then milk and sugar are added and the mixture is cooked until it thickens to form a light cream, which is served, sprinkled with ground cinnamon, in individual dishes. 

With more sophisticated sweets available, intxaursaltsa gradually disappeared from holiday tables. More recently, chefs have updated the original, using cream as well as milk, finishing the cream with toppings of burnt sugar brulée or shaved chocolate.   

With just a few tweaks, walnut cream makes a delightful holiday dessert. It serves as either a sauce or a pudding, depending how thick it is cooked. As a sauce, pair it with baked apples, fruit compote or Christmas cake. The cream can be prepared in advance and kept chilled up to five days. It also can be frozen. Thaw the cream and whisk it before serving into individual dessert cups. Alternatively, serve it as a frozen dessert; freeze the cream in dessert cups and allow to soften 20 minutes before serving. 

Here’s my version of an old-fashioned holiday dessert. I've cooked the ground walnuts in milk and ladled the pudding over a bittersweet chocolate sauce. There's no cream in the pudding, but it's topped with whipped cream for a luxurious finish.  

From rustic to elegant--walnut cream with chocolate sauce and a topping of whipped cream. The walnut cream can also be served as a frozen dessert.

Spoon the chocolate sauce into dessert cups before adding the walnut cream.

Walnut Cream

Intxaursaltsa (Crema de Nueces)

Walnut cream thickens as it cools. To use it as a sauce—the consistency of cream—cook it for the shorter length of time. For a thick pudding, cook it longer. 

Grind or crush the walnuts as finely as you wish. 

Serves 6.

8 ounces (2 ½ cups) shelled walnuts

½ cup sugar

4 cups whole milk

1 (5-inch) cinnamon stick

Pinch of salt

Chocolate sauce (recipe below)

Unsweetened whipped cream to serve

Place the walnuts and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and process until finely ground. Reserve.

Pour the milk into a heavy pan. Add the cinnamon stick and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil. Watch the pan carefully, so the milk does not boil over. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to stand at least 5 minutes. Skim out the cinnamon stick.

Walnuts ground with sugar.

Place the walnuts and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and process until finely ground. Reserve.

Pour the milk into a heavy pan. Add the cinnamon stick and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil. Watch the pan carefully, so the milk does not boil over. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to stand at least 5 minutes. Skim out the cinnamon stick.

Whisk the ground walnuts into the warm milk. Stir well. Place on moderately high heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil. Lower heat and cook, stirring frequently so the milk doesn’t scorch on the bottom. Cook until thickened and slightly reduced, 20-40 minutes, depending how thick you want the cream. Let the walnut cream cool.

Spoon the chocolate sauce into 6 dessert cups. Carefully ladle the walnut cream on top.

Refrigerate the walnut cream until chilled. Serve topped with whipped cream.

Chocolate Sauce

Salsa de Chocolate

The chocolate for this sauce is combined with olive oil rather than cream. Dark (85%) chocolate makes a bittersweet contrast to the sweetened walnut cream. Add sugar if you prefer a sweeter sauce. 

Chopped bittersweet chocolate.

4 ounces dark (85%) chocolate

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

½ cup water

1 tablespoon sugar (optional)

Chop the chocolate and place it in a heatproof bowl. Combine the oil, water and sugar, if using, in a saucepan. Bring it to a full boil and immediately pour over the chocolate. Whisk until the sauce is smooth. It will thicken as it cools.

Spoon sauce into dessert cups.

Spoon the sauce into dessert cups. Allow the sauce to cool completely before covering with walnut cream.

Sauce can be stored, covered and refrigerated, for up to a week. To thin the sauce, microwave on Medium for 15 seconds. Stir well. 

Luscious spoonful.

More recipes for holiday desserts:

Walnut Torte.

Almond Torte. 

Date Bars.

Fig Bars.

Grape Juice Pudding.

Pumpkin-Fruit Compote (Arrope).

Almond Nougat Mousse.

Christmas Almond Soup.

Sweet Potato-Molasses Compote.

CHOCOLATE—SHARE THE LOVE!

Why do chocolate and romance go together? While chocolate has never been proven to have aphrodisiacal properties, its consumption certainly soars on Valentine’s Day. Here’s a dessert to share the love. 

Chocolate = romance. A luscious chocolate custard for Valentine's Day.

Unlike airy chocolate mousse, this custardy chocolate dessert is dense, intensely chocolatey. While not overly sweet, it is sublimely rich. A little goes a long way. I’ve noted a yield of six half-cup servings, but the custard could easily be divided into much smaller servings.

Chocolate with no sugar added.

You need to start with good quality dark chocolate, at least 70 percent cacao. I’ve used chocolate with no added sugar. The sweetening is a combination of malitol and stevia. A touch of raisiny dessert wine, either Málaga Muscatel or Pedro Ximénez, complements the chocolate’s natural fruitiness.

The hot, eggy custard mixture melts the chopped chocolate. Blending turns it smooth and glossy.  

The dessert is best served at room temperature. It can be prepared in advance and refrigerated, but bring it to room temperature before serving.

How to serve the custards? With a luscious strawberry imbedded in the chocolate. With a sprinkling of Muscatel raisins that have been plumped in Muscatel or PX wine. With a dollop of crême fraiche or Greek yogurt (sweetened to taste). Sprinkled with chopped nuts. Spread on a crumb crust. The custards could probably be put into heart-shaped molds and unmolded after firming in the fridge.

Share the love! Rich chocolate custards are an easy, make-ahead dessert for a dinner party.

Chocolate marries well with berries, with raisins and figs, with oranges. 

Serving options: a dollop of Greek yogurt or crême fraiche.

Dark Chocolate Cream Custards
Crema de Chocolate Intensivo

Makes 6 (½ -cup) servings.

12 ounces dark (70%) chocolate
4 large egg yolks
Pinch of salt
¾ cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
¼ cup + 1 tablespoon sweet Muscatel or Pedro Ximénez wine

Chop the chocolate finely. (This is easy to do in batches in a mini food processor.) Place the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl.

Whisk the egg yolks in a heat-proof bowl with a pinch of salt.

Whisk hot cream into yolks.

Place the cream, milk and ¼ cup of sweet wine in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Whisk half of the hot cream into the egg yolks. Return the egg yolks to the saucepan. Cook on moderate heat, stirring constantly, until custard is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, 3 to 4 minutes.

Hot custard melts chocolate.

Pour the hot custard over the chopped chocolate and allow to stand a few minutes to soften the chocolate. Stir to mix the chocolate and custard completely.

Blended custard is smooth and glossy.

Transfer to a blender. Add 1 tablespoon sweet wine and blend the mixture until smooth and satiny. Divide between custard cups or dessert glasses. 

More about Spain and the history of chocolate: 

Spain's chocolate connection.

More chocolate dessert recipes:

Chocolate-Covered Figs.

Hot Drinking Chocolate.

"Gypsy's Arm" Rolled Cake with White Chocolate.

Frozen Torte with Chocolate Cream Filling.

Failed Chocolate Cake.

Flourless Chocolate-Almond Cake.

A SWEET PUDDING FOR HOLY WEEK

Cinnamon and lemon flavor springtime rice pudding.

In Spain, the days of Holy Week leading up to Easter are marked by vigilia, abstinence, when observant Catholics abstain from eating meat. But, adding a touch of sweetness to the season are several milk puddings, such as flan (recipe ); natillas, a creamy custard, and arroz con leche, milky rice pudding.

Milk puddings are typical for the season because in the springtime dairy animals are producing plenty of milk. In Asturias (northern Spain), rice pudding is made with cow’s milk and enriched with butter or cream. It is the dessert de rigueur following fabada beans (recipe ). In Andalusia (southern Spain), where I live, rice pudding is traditionally made with goat’s milk. 

Cinnamon stick and lemon peel flavor the milk. The pudding is sprinkled with additional ground cinnamon after it is ladled into bowls.

Use medium-short grain rice—the same Valencia rice used for paella—to make the pudding. Let it cook until very tender.

Arroz con Leche
Milky Rice Pudding

Serves 4.

4 cups water
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup medium-grain rice
4 cups milk
Peel from 1 lemon
1 cinnamon stick
½ cup sugar
Ground cinnamon

Bring the water and salt to a boil in a heavy pan. Add the rice and cook for 5 minutes. Drain the rice.

Place the milk, lemon peel and cinnamon stick in the pan. When it begins to bubble (take care the milk does not boil over), stir in the par-boiled rice. Reduce heat so the rice simmers. Cook, partially covered, 12 minutes.

Stir in the sugar. Let rice simmer, uncovered, until thick and creamy, about 15 minutes. Stir frequently to prevent the milk from scorching (a heat diffusor is useful). Discard the lemon peel and cinnamon stick.

Ladle hot pudding into 4 bowls. Sprinkle liberally with ground cinnamon. Allow to cool, then refrigerate until serving time. The pudding will thicken as it cools.