Old Fashioned Rice Pudding

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine water and rice and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove saucepan from heat and let sit, covered, for 5 minutes.
2. Add milk and sugar to cooked rice, stirring well. Return saucepan to stove. Cook over medium heat, stirring continuously, for 15 to 20 minutes or until very thick and creamy. If pudding is too thick, thin with a little more milk until desired consistency.
3. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract or paste. Let rice pudding cool slightly before serving. If desired, sprinkle with ground cinnamon before serving.

Variations:

Almond, Add ½ to 1 tsp almond extract in place of the vanilla

Raisin: Simply toss in a handful of raisins when first cooking the rice. This will plump them up nicely (or add in with the milk)

Cherry: Toss in a handful of plump dried pitted cherries

Pumpkin: Stir in a little canned pumpkin puree with the milk. You’ll want to add pumpkin pie spice too, or ground cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg to taste.

Chai Spice: Substitute unsweetened brewed chai tea as part of the milk–maybe ½ cup or so (or to taste). You can also add some additional ground spices for extra flavor

Ginger: Stir a handful of finely chopped candied ginger in at the end of cooking

(maybe a ¼ cup or so)

Recipe courtesy of Julie Hasson of Julie’s Kitchenette