Chubby winter-me wants comfort food– puddings and other starchy fattening things from childhood. This has always been one of my favorite desserts; we are divided in our house– my husband and son gag at the sight and smell of rice pudding; my daughter and I, on the other hand, can’t get enough of it. The recipe is adapted from Bon Appetit.
2 quarts whole milk (I often use 1% because that’s what we tend to have in the house)
1 cup jasmine or basmati rice
2/3 to 3/4 cup sugar (to taste- I like 2/3)
2 T unsalted butter
1 t vanilla
1/4 t salt
2 egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream (hey…. don’t feel bad… you used 1% milk- right?)
cinnamon for the top
Bring the milk, rice, butter, sugar, vanilla and salt to a boil in a heavy 4 quart saucepan; reduce heat and simmer, stirring frequently (don’t be put off by the crust that forms while cooking- it gets stirred away) until rice is tender and creamy, about 1 hour.
Whisk eggs in a bowl and add about 1 cup or so of the hot rice mixture to the egg yolks, whisking like mad so that your egg yolks don’t scramble. Stir this egg mixture back into the rice and heat for a few more minutes over low heat. Stir in the cream. Put the rice pudding into either a large bowl or a bunch of little single servings and sprinkle with cinnamon. Cover with plastic wrap so that it is touching the surface of the pudding and chill for at least 3 hours before eating (unless you like to eat it warm, in which case, by all means go ahead and do so).
