Baked Rice Pudding with Peaches & Buttered Almonds

They present beautifully and they're the kind of non- traditional desserts I talked about in my pre-Thanksgiving posts.

For example, the holiday desserts I'm posting this week are not pies, but they are:
budget-friendly,simple to make,
made up of seasonal ingredients, and
because they're substantial desserts, serving just one with ice cream or whipped cream for your Christmas dinner would be ample.Baked Rice Pudding with Peaches & Buttered Almonds
1) Pour 1 cup of Arborio rice into a pot with 2 cups of water.
2) Gently cook over low for about 15 mins.
3) Now add two cups of milk, and half a cup of raisins to the rice. Stir well. Cook a further 25 mins or until the rice is soft and has a risotto-like consistency.
4) Spoon cooked rice into a large mixing bowl and allow it to cool.
5) To the cooled rice add your favorite spice or a selection such as a teaspoon of cinnamon, half teaspoon nutmeg, one-quarter teaspoon cloves, one teaspoon ginger.
6) Add a half cup of soft brown sugar or you can substitute the sugar for honey or agave or even half a cup of orange marmalade.
7) Now add half a cup of ground almonds (optional) and the zest of one lemon.
8) Pour rice mix into a food processor and blend well.
9) Do a taste test; does it need more of one spice, more sweetener, more lemon zest?
10) Pour blended rice mix back into your mixing bowl; add 3 large eggs or 4 small eggs.
Optional: If you have some leftover eggnog, or an open bottle of Baileys you might like to add a half cup of one or the other; if you do add additional liquid, make it 4 eggs rather than three.
11) Using a fork gently beat eggs (& eggnog or Baileys) into rice mix and then spoon mix into a baking dish and bake in a 350-degree oven for about 30 mins.
12) Sit rice pudding atop a wire rack to cool.

To Serve: I decorated the top of my pudding with peaches, which had been bottled this past summer. You could use a tin of peaches, perhaps marinade them in a cup of brandy first, pouring the marinade over the pudding once you've laid the peaches around the top.

I then tossed a half cup of slivered blanched almonds in a skillet with a dob of butter and browned the almonds, dotting the peaches and the edge of the pudding with the almonds.

I served the pudding with a bowl of whipped cream to which I'd added a little icing sugar, the zest of half a lemon, a pinch of nutmeg and a half teaspoon of cinnamon.