Snuggly, Creamy, Warm Rice Pudding...

On a cold winter's day, when the ice
is on the cars and the night has come in
early, the perfect remedy for the January blues
is the rich, creamy, indulgent hug that
old fashioned rice pudding gives you. 

My children love Rice Pudding, which was my completely self-interested excuse to make homemade rice-pudding. 

My mum was a great cook but she never really liked puddings and so didn't often make them, which is a bit like me now. However, one of my resounding memories of my childhood is my mum's homemade rice-pudding. 

Simply, one day, after years of me loving and eating the tinned rice-pudding (hot or cold) my mum produced a casserole dish from the oven and presented me with homemade rice-pudding. Perhaps it was its completely unexpected arrival that added that extra note of sweetness, but ever since, Rice Pudding as been one of my favourite non-pudding-sort-of-girl puddings. 

Then whilst we were in Copenhagen over New Year's Eve, every tea room and eatery we went in had a very special rice pudding dish on the menu, which when I first ordered it, I hadn't realised was something very specific to Danish Christmases. Which is why, when on Jan 2nd when I went to order it, I was told in no uncertain terms that Rice Pudding was finished for the year! It seemed that it was as ridiculous as me asking for Christmas Pudding in July.  

Rice Pudding, the Danish
Christmas way. We had this
in a tea-room in Copenhagen.
Served cold with almonds and
 a cherry compote, it's a very
 special celebration dish. 

In Denmark, it's served over the Christmas period, cold, creamy and with almonds, topped with a rich cherry compote. Next year, on our Christmas Eve's Eve Book Gifting Night (another tradition we've adopted from our beloved Denmark) I shall be making it the Danish way. 

But for now, whilst it's gloomy, grey, icy and snowy, the only way I can think of Rice Pudding is hot from the oven, baked with the caramelised bits around the edge and the nutmeg turning the top a golden brown. 

It's not a necessarily cheap dish to make but it's worth making indulgently if you're going to do it. There's no room for skimping on calories here. 

This is a mash-up recipe from my mum, who she thinks used a Delia Smith recipe all those years ago -but to be honest, no one can really claim to own the Rice Pudding recipe; it's been a nursery pudding for as long as time itself. 

INGREDIENTS: 

1/4 a packet of pudding Rice

1 standard can of Evaporated milk

1 pint of milk

30g of golden caster sugar 

25g of butter

1/2 a nutmeg

METHOD

Heavily butter line a heavy based casserole dish

Pour in the rice 

the evaporated milk

the milk

the sugar

the butter

Give it a good stir with a wooden spoon and place in the oven on 180 for around 40 minutes. Remove it and give it a really good stir, loosening the rice from the bottom. 

Grate half a nutmeg over the top and return to the oven, turning it down to about 120 for a further 40-50 minutes.

Serve immediately. 

TOP TIP, if left or you put left overs in the fridge, it has a habit of going solid as the rice takes up more of the liquid. Don't panic, get another ovenproof pan, spoon in the solid mass and break down with a fork, add about a cupful of milk and return to the oven for 15-20 minutes and it will be all good again.