Syttende Mai!

Yes, yes, I know it's actually May 18th, but I didn't have time to finish my post yesterday, and I am not about to let a little detail like a number get in the way of sharing some some stuff that you can do in your kitchen!   Syttende Mai is the Norway's Constitution Day (literally translated, it's "May 17th").  It's an important holiday in Norway, equivalent to our (American) Independence Day on July 4.  In honor of this holiday, I thought I'd try a traditional Norwegian dessert: Troll Cream.

Troll cream only has 3 ingredients and is amazingly simple.  It is usually made with lingonberries, but, being in Virginia, we don't have a ready supply, so I substituted blueberries.  So here's the amazing part.  You dump the sugar, berries and egg white into a mixing bowl all together, and then you just start whipping it.  It takes about 2 minutes, but it turns into this amazing, feather-light, pillowy, mousse-type of cream.  When I first read the original recipe, I was really skeptical. But, I followed the recipe as it was written and abracadabra! Everything did what it was supposed to do!

I used the troll cream as a layer in a lemon-blueberry trifle, but you could totally serve this on it's own, maybe with a little whipped cream and fresh berries and/or cookies on the side for a little texture.  It is best eaten the day it's made, I think, because the texture changes a little bit (turns more meringue-y) the longer it sits.  I have to admit, though, the leftovers still tasted pretty good the next day!  :-)

Although I thought I was taking pictures of the steps for making the troll cream, nothing was on my camera (my camera battery was low), so you'll have to just use your imagination.  Here's what it looked like in the trifle I made (it's the slightly lavender-looking layer):

Blueberry Troll Cream

1 cup blueberries, rinsed and patted dry
1 cup sugar
3 egg whites

Have all ingredients at room temperature.  Put all ingredients in a mixing bowl (I used a stand mixer, but I think a hand-held mixer would work, too).  Turn mixer onto a medium-low speed to start, then gradually increase speed to high.  Mix for about 2 minutes.  The troll cream should be light and fluffy, but not stiff.

Note: This recipe can be increased or decreased, depending on how many servings you want.  This amount was used for a trifle that served about 12, but you could decrease the amounts - 1/3 cup sugar, 1/3 cup blueberries, 1 egg white - for just 6-8 servings.


This was the only picture I got of the troll cream, which I took with my phone:

This recipe was so easy, I'm definitely going to experiment with different berries/flavor combinations!

If you want to make the trifle, here's how:

Lemon-Blueberry Trifle

1 Lemon pound cake (if you want to make this from scratch, here's a good recipe)
1 recipe Blueberry Troll cream
1 cup lemon curd (store bought or make your own)
3 cups whipped cream
1 cup fresh blueberries, rinsed and patted dry

Start by folding the lemon curd and 2 cups of whipped cream together. Set that mixture aside for a moment.

Slice thin pieces of pound cake (no more than 1/4 inch thick).  Layer slices of cake to cover the bottom of the trifle bowl.  Scatter fresh blueberries on top of the cake layer:

Then layer half of the curd/whipped cream mixture, followed by half of the blueberry troll cream.  Repeat layers (cake slices, fresh blueberries, lemon whipped cream, troll cream).  After the last layer of troll cream, top with the remaining cup of whipped cream, then scatter more fresh blueberries over top.  This is what you end up with:

Serves 12.  The curd and cake can be made a couple of days ahead, but the trifle should be put together only about 4 hours ahead of time (refrigerate until ready to serve).  Best eaten the same day, but still good a day after, too.  :-)