Baked Rice Pudding
The online world is a funny place, isn’t it? I have an online friend called Vi. I met Vi years ago in an online forum for people who wanted to share ideas and recipes about canning and preserving food. Vi was a regular poster in the group for a long time, posting all about her canning adventures, her cats, her ducks and other animals. Everyone in the group looked forward to her colorful, chatty posts, but a few years back she left the membership and that group never was quite the same after that. Most of the personality and energy of the group was gone after Vi left.
Fast forward a year or so to when I started using Facebook. I don’t remember exactly how, but Vi and I reconnected on Facebook. I was so happy to make that connection again and we still communicate regularly through Facebook. Ever since I started writing this blog, Vi has hounded me been requesting that I post a recipe for rice pudding. She aggravates asks me at least twice a day once a month when I’m going to make some rice pudding. So, without further ado – this one’s for you Vi!
There are basically two kinds of rice pudding – the creamy stovetop kind and the custardy baked ones. We like both equally well but I think this baked one with a brulee topping is just outstanding.
1 tsp. butter, softened
4 eggs, lightly beaten
¼ tsp. salt
½ cup plus 2 tblsp. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Grated rind of one lemon
3 cups whole milk
1 ½ cups cooked rice
½ cup raisins
Topping:
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.
Prepare a 2 quart casserole or baking dish by coating it generously with the softened butter.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, salt, sugar, vanilla and lemon rind. Stir well to combine.
Add in the milk, rice and raisins, stirring again to thoroughly combine all ingredients. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.
Place the baking dish in a larger pan and filled with hot water to within 1? of the top of the baking dish. To make this easier to handle, I place my filled baking dish in the empty larger pan. Then sit it on the oven rack and add the water. Much easier than trying to carry the pan filled with hot water and pudding all together! Bake uncovered for 1 to 1 ½ hours. Stir well after the first 30 minutes of baking. Continue baking until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Start checking after the first full hour of cooking and remove immediately when done. Do not overcook.
Allow the pudding to cool for about 30 minutes.
Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Sprinkle over the cooled pudding. Place under the broiler (or use a torch) until the topping is melted and bubbly.
Serve hot or cold with whipped cream if desired. Makes 6-8 servings.
Enjoy!
Download a printable copy of Baked Rice Pudding.
Other Rice Pudding recipes you might enjoy from around the internet:
Rice Pudding from Joy of BakingAlton Brown’s Indian Rice Pudding
Baked Rice Pudding from Paula Deen
Rice Pudding on Simply Recipes
Leftover Rice Rice Pudding from Slashfood
