Rich Baked Coconut Rice Pudding

One of my favorite recipes is my Mom's “Arroz con Leche”; it’s a Mexican rice pudding made on the stove top.  The other day I was having a craving for it. I could have just made my Mom's recipe, but I thought I would give the American version a try. I found a few recipes online, but none of them sounded exactly like what I wanted to make....I wanted it to taste like my Mom's but also like a custard. Well, the combination I came up with in the end is delicious!  The rice flavored the coconut milk and the hint of vanilla from the vanilla bean was amazing!!! I will definitely be making this recipe again in the future.  I hope you give it a try.

Ingredients:

1 vanilla bean

3 whole eggs plus one 1 yolk

1 cup whole milk

1 cup coconut milk (in a can)

½ cup heavy cream

3/4 cup sugar  ( I added a 1 cup since I was using pure cane sugar)

1 ½ cups cooked rice (cooled, I used long grain white rice)

½ cup coconut flakes (unsweetened)

¼ salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

***TIP, vanilla beans can be expensiv, but sometimes you can buy them individually at your grocery store if you go to the rack that has all the herbs and spices packaged in baggies instead of containers. Mine was only a $1.29 at Sprouts.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.   You will need two pans for this recipe. A 11x14 aluminum baking dish and a 9 inch glass baking dish.

Lightly spray the glass baking dish with oil. Set aside

Take the vanilla bean, and make a slit down the middle. Using a spoon, scrap the middle out, it should be all the black beads. Set aside

In a large bowl beat eggs.

Add in the coconut milk and whip. 

Then add the milk and heavy cream and whip till all incorporated. Add sugar.

Now add the last four ingredients’ (rice, coconut flakes ,vanilla bean and salt).   Stir until everything is mixed together.

Pour mixture into prepared glass dish.

Set the glass dish into the 11x14 aluminum baking dish.Pour hot water into the aluminum pan, until its about 1inch in depth around the glass dish.

Bake for 1 ½ hours unit the middle is set.  Then, right before pulling it out, set oven on broil and broil for 1-2 minutes. It will get a nice golden look on the top.

Remove from oven, carefully remove the glass dish (toss the hot water in the aluminum pan). Sprinkle the cinnamon over the top .  Cool for about 30 minutes.

Serve warm or cold. ENJOY!!

Happy Cooking