a compromise

On my gchat status on Sunday morning, I asked whether I should make rice pudding or apple pie. Responses varied. Mom suggested that I could make rice pudding in my slow cooker; so I decided to give it a try. It occurred to me that apples might go very well in the rice pudding. A quick search of my cookbooks and usual sources found no recipes for rice pudding with apples, so I made it up, using The Joy of Cooking for only the most general of outlines.

Into the Crock of my two-quart mini-Crockpot, I put: 2 cups 2% milk, 1/2 cup light brown sugar, 2 large eggs (the innards thereof), 1/3 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon Penzey's Apple Pie Spice blend. I whisked these up to mix quite thoroughly.

Next, I took one large Cortland apple, cored and peeled it, diced it into 1/4-1/2 inch chunks, and tossed the chunks in the crock. Then, I dumped in all my leftover rice. I didn't measure it, but I think it was more than three cups. It was our standard jasmine rice, cooked in the usual way. This proved to be too much rice. The pudding would have been better with only two cups of rice.

I gave it a good stir, set the mini-Crockpot on "low", and left for church. Four hours later, the pudding had cooked nicely. Since the apple chunks floated to the top and there released their liquid, it needed a good stir. It was quite thick and stodgy in texture because of the excessive rice, but the apple chunks held their shape and a bit of tooth quite nicely. Also, because the eggs in the mixture were slow-cooked without constant stirring, the pudding was not fully emulsified and creamy-smooth. To finish it off and increase the creaminess, I threw in two tablespoons of butter and stirred until it was all melted into the pudding.

In spite of the thick texture, the pudding tasted quite delicious. Hop and Skip both had generous helpings. Just for fun, I "plated" a bit of it with caramel sauce, cinnamon, and a pinch of grey Celtic sea salt. Here is the picture. Don't mock; I was just being silly.