Tilslørte Bondepiker
Tilslørte bondepiker, translated to veiled peasant girls in English, is a classic and quite common Norwegian dessert. It is served year round, although slightly more often during the colder months of the year. This traditional dessert makes use of 3 main ingredients found in most Norwegian kitchens year round – whipping cream, apples and breadcrumbs. I love this layered triffle dessert because it’s simple to assemble and is budget friendly. Serve in a glass bowl or individual glass dessert dishes to show off each layer of the dessert.
For this recipe, I normally use a batch of my homemade applesauce (unspiced) when I have it on hand, or the jarred stuff when I don’t. Instead of the traditional white breadcrumbs, some use crumbled digestive biscuits, or another crumbled, plain cookie and cut back on the sugar in the breadcrumb mix. No matter which type of crumbs you use, make sure they are fine and crumbled into small bits. Since you’ll be layering the main ingredients in this recipe, feel free to adjust it to your tastes as well. Ease up on the cream and add more breadcrumbs to make this dessert more waistline friendly.
- 3 teaspoons butter
- 3-4 deciliters (2½-3 cups) white breadcrumbs
- 3 teaspoons vanilla sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon, ground
- 300 ml (1 ¼ cup) heavy whipping cream
- 4 ¾ dl (2 cups) applesauce
- Lemon balm leaves (optional - for decoration)
- Melt butter in a warm (but not hot) pan.
- Turn off heat, add breadcrumbs, sugar and cinnamon and stir until well incorporated.
- Remove breadcrumbs from pan and allow to cool.
- Using a standing mixer or hand mixer, whip cream until firm peaks form. Set aside.
- Add a layer of breadcrumbs to the bottom of your serving dish, then a layer of cream, and finally a layer of applesauce. Continue layering until serving dish is full.
- Top with lemon balm leaves for decoration and serve.
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I remember my grandmother making this dessert. How ever a remember it being a dark red color and she served it in a large clear bowl. How do I get the color how she made it.
That sounds like a berry flavored version?
Sometimes, when I just have to have some, calories, those damned calories, I just use those bread crumbs you buy in the supermarket, cream, real cream, in a spray can and apple jam (jam in Norway isn’t as thick as the one you get in most other countries). Takes a couple of minutes and tastes, almost, as good as when my mom made them when I was a kid. The bad thing is that when you first start to make it you can’t stop before one of the ingredients is gone. 😉