Hi everybody, I know I’ve been off for awhile but I lost my motivation for blogging and just didn’t want to do it anymore but after finding a new job that I really enjoy and settling in, I now have more time to devote to this blog so I decided to make some homemade rice pudding from a book called French Patisserie that I’ve been wanting to try some recipes from.

This book is the next best thing to going to a french pastry school, I have a lot of recipes marked in this book that I want to try and I’m going to take you along for the ride as I try to perfect all of the recipes. Now without further ado, let’s get onto the recipe.

Rice Pudding

Serves 6

*All the measurements are by weight since all of the recipes I’ve been making and reading recently are by weight for more accuracy but I’ve also included the volume measurements if you don’t own a kitchen scale.

Ingredients:

• 200g or 1 heaping cup of arborio or any kind of short grain rice
• 1 liter or 4 1/4 cups of whole milk
• 2 vanilla beans split lengthwise and seeds scraped out or 2 tbsp of vanilla extract
• 120g or 2/3 cup sugar
• 1g or 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 egg yolks (optional but it does make the finished pudding creamier)

Start by boiling 500mL or 2 cups of water and then adding the rice. Only cook it for 30 seconds to a minute (no more or it’ll overcook later) to parboil the rice so that the starch granules burst then drain and set aside.

Next add the milk, sugar, and vanilla bean or extract whichever you have on hand into a large pan and bring to a boil. Once the mixture has come to a boil bring the heat down to a medium low, take one spoonful at a time and whisk it into the egg yolks (if using) so that they become the same temperature as the milk. Mine took 4 tbsp worth for it to be at the right temp. This is called tempering, I’m doing this so that my egg yolks don’t scramble when I add them to the milk, similar to making a cremè anglaise which is used as the base for homemade ice cream.

Once the egg yolks have been tempered, add them to the milk and whisk to combine then add the rice and stir regularly until all the milk has been absorbed by the rice. Be sure to be stirring this very regularly so that the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot where it has the chance to burn. Once all the milk has been absorbed by the rice, transfer it to a bowl and cool to room temp before covering and refrigerating until fully set.

Looks delicious right? But if you let it chill and all the flavors get to know each other it gets so much better, trust me.

If you want to go the extra mile and make this dish even more decadent like I did then let’s move onto the next part of this post, homemade salted caramel sauce. My favorite caramel sauce is from the website bigger bolder baking, her salted caramel sauce recipe is so easy to make and tastes amazing. Here’s the link to the website if you want to give it a look: https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/salted-caramel-sauce/ now onto the finale of this post.

Salted Caramel Sauce

*I’m sorry I didn’t take as many pictures of this as I did for the rice pudding but I was trying not to burn the caramel, once the sugar hits the caramel stage you have to move fast or it will go bad really quick.*

Ingredients:

• 225g (1 cup) sugar
• 115mL (1/2 cup) water
• 115mL (1/2 cup) heavy cream
• 6 tbsp (3/4 stick or 85g) butter, cubed
• 1/4 tsp salt

Start by adding the sugar and water into a medium saucepan over medium-low heat without letting it simmer until the sugar fully dissolves. Once the sugar has dissolved bring the heat up to medium and let the sugar come to a simmer. Most importantly DO NOT stir at all once it begins to simmer or the sugar will crystallize and there’s no going back from that, you have to completely start over from the beginning.

Do you see all the little bubbles forming at the bottom and on the sides of the pan? This is when you have to stop stirring and just let it alone for roughly 6-7 minutes until it becomes an even amber colored caramel. Be extra careful not to let your caramel smoke or burn, another thing that will make you have to start over.

Once the sugar turns this color, it’s time to add the heavy cream. Be careful with this step because since the cream is cold, the caramel will bubble up a little bit but just keep whisking and the cream will dissolve into the caramel. After all the cream has been added and fully incorporated, start adding in the butter while whisking until its all melted and mixed through.

Next, take the caramel off the heat and add the salt then whisk until it dissolves. Let this deliciousness cool down to room temp then transfer to a container and refrigerate for up to 12 weeks.

Once everything is done and set up approriately, it’s time for a taste. Take a bowl of rice pudding, drizzle some caramel sauce over top and you have an amazingly delicious dessert. I don’t even like rice puding and this is amazing, definitely going to be eating more of this while it lasts.

I hope you give this a try and that you like it as much as I do. If you make this, post a picture down in the comments so we can all see your delicious creation.

Until next time,

Peace, Love, and Sugar,

-Brooke