Caramelized Rice Pudding

There is something about rice pudding.  It evokes time gone by.  I think of my childhood, and my daughter's childhood.  She looooooved rice pudding!  It's comfort food.  While everyone has their preferred recipe, it is basically white rice in milk with sugar. 

I remember hoping there would be rice leftover from dinner so I could have it for dessert. I didn't even bother to make the rice pudding, I just put in a bowl, nuked it, added some milk, sugar and cinnamon and ate it just like that. And I was happy to have it.

These days I am a little more picky and I enjoy the finer things in life so I actually take the time to make it.  I've tried various recipes and I liked the caramelized rice pudding for a little something extra .  Yes it's that same old rice pudding recipe but then you put sugar on top and use a blowtorch to burn it. The result is a crunchy topping similar to creme brulee.  

The recipe:  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 
Put 3 cups of whole milk into a medium saucepan.  Add 1/2 cup arborio rice, and 1 vanilla bean that has been split and scraped.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the rice has absorbed most of the liquid. Discard the vanilla bean.

In a bowl whisk 3/4 cup of heavy cream with 1/4 cup sugar, a pinch of salt, 2 large egg yolks.  Pour into the rice mixture stirring constantly and return to heat until it comes to a low simmer.

Divide mixture into four 6 ounce ramekins.  Set them in a roasting pan and add boiling water halfway up sides.  Bake until almost set about 15 minutes.  Remove ramekins from pan and allow to cool 10 minutes.  Sprinkle tops with raw sugar and a pinch of cinnamon.  Using a kitchen torch caramelize the sugar.

If you do not want to use a vanilla bean substitute a good quality vanilla.

If you do not have a kitchen torch you can brown them under the broiler.  But keep an eye on them as they can burn very quickly.