Winter Comfort Food: Rice Pudding with a twist

Hello, everybody! The weather has taken a turn for the chilly here and we haven't seen the sun in days. We didn't even catch the super moon! So sad. But although winter is my favorite season, I do need some sustenance to make it through these long, cold nights.
                                            
First of all, KITTEHS. Aren't they adorable?? When they're not rocketing around the house shasing each other, they're snuggled up for a nap.

 The picture above made us laugh because Koshka's tail looks like it's attached to Nevery's body, which makes him look like some kind of anime mutant raccoon.
                                                    
So, back to the winter comfort food! I love to make rice pudding and the kids eat it up like nobody's business, but this time I tried something a little different. It all starts the same, though.
3 cups cold, cooked rice
3 cups milk
pinch of salt
sugar or honey to taste
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon (we like ours really cinnamon-y)
Bring to a boil on medium high heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
3 eggs, beaten until frothy
Remove 1/2 cup of boiling liquid, let cool for five minutes, slowly add to egg mixture until incorporated. This will keep you from getting "fried eggs" in your pudding
Slowly reincorporate mixture to the pot.
I love raisins but nobody else in my house does so I didn't add any to the pot.
1/4 tsp espresso powder
sprinkle of cinnamon to the top
Sometimes we add brown sugar after this and bake it for about twenty minutes.

 We really just wanted to eat it, so we skipped the baking and went straight to the secret ingredient. A friend made it for me this way and I've been hooked on it ever since!

 A bit of espresso powder added to the individual bowls gives an incredible twist to the same old, same old rice pudding. I love coffee, so this is about how much I put in my bowl. Stir until completely combined. Some of the kids loved the way mine tasted and wanted it the same, some wanted none, some wanted just a bit of coffee flavor. (OH, this is decaf espresso, in case you think I'm insane. I really don't need caffeinated kids at 9PM at night.)

My oldest prefers hers chilled so she put it in the fridge and after an hour, added some clover honey. YUM. 

So, that's all for now! Have a wonderful weekend! Be sure to stop by my author pages at Mary Jane Hathaway or Virginia Carmichael, or my blog at The Things That Last.

Ruthy's Rice Pudding

Rice pudding is famous.

Almost every culture has a form of sweet rice.

Sweet rice and custard????

Oh my stars, better yet!

I worked in a Greek Family restaurant for eleven years. They made Greek rice pudding...

It was good, but this way is better. I'm going to go out on a limb and say WAY BETTER.

But try it. Taste test. You be the judge.

Baked rice puddings can get dry. Pithy.

YUCK.

Greek rice puddings lack depth of flavor. They're tasty and sweet, but it's basically rice and milk and sugar, slow simmered.

Ummm.... Not so much.

But this????

Oh. This is GOOD STUFF!

This recipe is a mix of my old fashioned custard recipe from the Cream Corn Starch box, circa 1970-something. An older neighbor told me about it and I was always looking for great basic recipes. Why re-invent the wheel?

So this basic vanilla pudding rocks. It's done in about 10 minutes (including cooking time)

has no chemical or weird aftertaste and I use it as a filling for fancy cakes...

Boston Cream Pie

Cannolis

Cream puffs

And the base for rice pudding:

Here's the original recipe:

1/4 cup Butter (one-half stick)

1/2 cup Cream Corn Starch

1  1/2 Cups Sugar

4 Cups Milk

4 Egg Yolks

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Melt butter in 3 quart saucepan. Remove from heat for a minute. Just long enough to add the sugar/corn starch mixture and not burn anything. Mix sugar and cornstarch in bowl. Add to butter.

Add in milk and egg yolks.
(the whites can be used for meringue kisses... or scrambled egg whites... or white cake...)

Whisk until combined.

Cook over medium to medium high heat (only if you STAND THERE AND STIR. Do not do what I do and think you can fold a load of laundry or check e-mails. Trust me. You cannot.)

If you mess up the above step and burn it, sigh...

I do that often. Then I realize I am not Super Mom or a Magic Fairy and pudding should be stirred.

So then I stand there and stir the next batch while reading a great ROMANCE NOVEL like this one:

See, then the time passes quickly. 

We Yanks are a strange breed. Yes. I know.

Okay, so stir until thick and mixture just comes to a boil.

Remove from heat, add vanilla.

DONE!!!!!

So there you have it, the base, the bottom line, the delicious, creamy custardy goodness.

Now:

Add cooked rice.

I use Basmati rice because I love the texture, but you can use any normal rice. Typically rice can be cooked like this:

4 cups water (I do measure this)

1 tablespoon salt (No, I don't measure, I just dump)

2 cups rice (this I measure)

Splash of olive oil

Bring water to a boil. Add in salt, oil and rice. Bring back to a boil. Cover lightly, reduce heat to simmer for twenty minutes. Turn off heat.

Now this is how I make rice all the time. And it works great. The hint of salt in the rice is AWESOME in the pudding.

Mix rice with custard. Put in bowl. Sprinkle with nutmeg.

Enjoy.