BAKED RICE PUDDING

A few days ago I made some 5 - Minute rice to eat with our dinner. I made 4 servings because I was afraid the 2 servings wouldn't be enough. Well, they would have been more than enough because we had so much rice leftover. 

My husband said I could make a chicken and rice dish with it. I told him I was going to make some rice pudding. His response?  "Well, you can enjoy it." He doesn't like rice pudding. 

So guess what I did. Yelp! I made some rice pudding. I did look for a recipe for chicken and rice and did find one that used already cooked rice. I will have to try it another time.

So I will be enjoying my rice pudding for the next few days.

The recipe I used came from a cookbook called Mom's Best Desserts 100 classic treats that taste as good now as they did then by Andrea Chesman & Fran Raboff. As an introduction for the recipe they wrote, " It has always been a mystery why the best-tasting rice puddings are served at diners, particularly Greek-run diners on the East Coast. But then again, diners often serve the best pies, too. What it comes down to is this: If you want good old-fashioned desserts, a good old-fashioned diner is often as good as grandmother's house."

BAKED RICE PUDDING

2            egg yolks
1/2         cup sugar (I used 1/4 cup sugar/stevia blend)
2            teaspoons cornstarch
1/2         teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4         teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/8         teaspoon salt
2-1/2     cups warm milk
1             teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2      cups cooked short-or-medium grain rice
1/2         cup raisins (I used 1/4 cup)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly butter a 1-1/2 - quart baking dish. Set in into a slightly larger pan that is at least 2 inches deep. (I set mine in a 9 x 13 - inch baking pan.)

In a bowl, combine the egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and a few tablespoons of the warm milk. (I heated the milk in a 4 - cup glass measuring cup in the microwave for about 1-1/2 minutes.) Whisk until blended.

Add the remaining milk gradually, along with the vanilla.

Fold in the rice and raisins.

Spoon the mixture into the baking dish.

Pour 1 inch of hot water around the dish.






Carefully place the pan in the oven and bake uncovered for 1 hour and 30 minutes,

stirring with a fork every 15 minutes during the first hour. This will prevent the rice from settling and will keep the custard creamy. Do not stir during the last half hour.

The pudding will be done when the rice looks creamy and almost of the milk is absorbed.

Remove the pudding from the water bath and let it cool on a rack.

Sprinkle with extra nutmeg is you like to serve it warm or cold. Can also serve with milk, cream, or a fresh fruit sauce.

I have another recipe that has been quite popular on this blog for Rice Pudding that my friend Kay loves to make. The recipe was one of her mother's. We recently met at Kay's for an afternoon of Mexican Train and she served the pudding again. You might want to check it out here.