Dec 21, 2011

Mom's Extra Creamy Rice Pudding

This is some gorgeous rice pudding right here, and I get to eat it!


My sister goes absolutely ape over this rice pudding.  In fact, when my mom makes it, she has to make a double batch so my sister can have her own bowl all to herself.

That said, be forewarned that this is not a light recipe by any stretch of the imagination.

What you'll need:

2 quarts of milk
1 cup sugar
1 stick of butter
2 cups of water
1 heaping cup of Carolina brand rice (I don't know why Carolina rice works better, it just does)

2 small cans of sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp. real vanilla extract
2 eggs


In a good pot with a thick bottom, heat the water, milk, sugar and butter to a slow boil over medium heat.  If you let the milk mixture come to a rolling boil it will curdle.  You can still eat the pudding, it just won't be as pretty.

Add in the rice and let it all boil slowly for 45 minutes.  You don't have to hover over the pot, but give it a decent stir every once in awhile.

When the milk and rice mixture has about five minutes to go, empty the sweetened condensed milk into a second pot, nonstick if possible, and warm it up gently. You should be able to comfortably stick the tip of your pinkie into it without getting burned.  You just want to thin it out a little and use it to temper the eggs.

Speaking of the eggs, beat them with an electric mixer or with a stick blender until they're very well beaten and foamy and slowly add to the warm sweetened condensed milk.  Add the vanilla.

Once the two are combined, add them slowly to the rice mixture and stir, stir, stir.  Cook everything for another 10 minutes, stirring a lot.

Transfer the pudding to either a bowl or individual serving cups.  It will thicken considerably as it cools.  Do not put it into the refrigerator until it is completely cool.  Sprinkle the top with cinnamon and nutmeg. Store covered in the fridge.

Dec 14, 2011

Glazed Double Ginger Cookies

I love the aroma of ginger.  I love it in Asian foods and I love it in baked goods at Christmas.  A lot of the cookie recipes I have that contain ginger also have cinnamon and nutmeg and other stuff that takes the spotlight off the ginger.  This recipe puts the ginger front and center.  There are no other spices or flavors in there!

Here's what you need: 
1 cup (2 sticks) of softened butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 Tbl. grated fresh ginger
1/2 cup candied ginger, cut into a fine dice (divided)
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbl. milk (add more by the drop if you need to for the glaze to flow)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Dec 8, 2011

The Christmas Baking begins!

Necessity is the mother of invention, right?  So I came up with this recipe- a combination of two classics- because I had an open bag of pretzels in my pantry that I wanted to use up somehow before they became completely stale.  And I didn't particularly feel like sitting around munching pretzels.