Yummy Maple Cinnamon Rice Pudding

Yesterday evening, I was craving rice pudding.  It has been a comfort food kinda week, ya know?

I had some leftover brown basmati rice from our latest curry night, but not really enough to make a decent sized batch of rice pudding.

What I wanted was a creamy, maple-y, cinnamon-y bowl of goodness.  Maybe two bowls.

I got the idea for the recipe from The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook : 250 No-Fail Recipes for Pilafs, Risottos, Polenta, Chilis, Soups, Porridges, Puddings and More, from Start to Finish in Your Rice Cooker, but didn't exactly follow the recipe precisely because I wanted a little more than it would have made so I could have some for breakfast this morning, too.

So I did the following:


In a bowl, I mixed together my four cups of leftover cooked brown basmati rice, another cup to cup and a half (I didn't measure, I just eyeballed it) of instant brown rice, 4 cups of skim milk, 2 cups evaporated skim milk (actually one can of it and then I filled up the second with skim milk), about a cup of real maple syrup (not the fake stuff -- this is one place you really want to use real syrup), a teaspoon of vanilla, a teaspoon cinnamon, and another teaspoon pumpkin pie spice.

I mixed this altogether and then popped the whole gloopy bit in the rice cooker (we got the 10 cup one, so there was plenty of room -- yay!).

I set it for a porridge setting and it filled the entire house with the most delicious scent while it cooked.  It was all that I could do not to open the cooker and scoop out some half-cooked pudding.

Seriously.

Once it was done, I let it sit for 15 more excruciating minutes and steam to allow a little more milk to absorb so it was creamy instead of runny.  Again, I just sort of eyeballed it, so ymmv on that timing.

It was divine.  The best rice pudding I've had in ages, and exactly what I wanted last night.

And because I used brown rice?  I can coax myself into thinking it's relatively healthy for me, which makes that second bowl that I had last night all the sweeter.

(Photo via theilr.)