Baked Rice Pudding (Unni Riisipuuro)

mersaydees's Note:

Based on a recipe from Beatrice Ojakangas' cookbook, The Finnish Cookbook. If I said that I love this recipe, it may be my taste buds, heavily influenced by the Finnish-American culture in which I grew up! To me and my visiting brother, this is divine! As an added bonus, my brother researched foods that help one with quality sleep, and this is among them! :) Will my DH eat this -- not on his life! He did taste it though, so he knows what he's missing! NOTE: In its introduction, Beatrice explains, "At Christmastime, a blanched almond is often pressed into this pudding before it is served, and it is said that the person who gets it will have good luck during the following year."

• Total Time: 1 hrs 40 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 1 cup uncooked rice
• 3 cups milk
• ¼ cup butter , melted
• ½ cup sugar
• 3 eggs , beaten
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup almonds , sliced and unblanched
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 whole almond , blanched (optional)
• light cream

Directions:

1. Cook rice according to package directions. Drain and rinse under cold water.
2. Combine milk, melted butter, sugar, eggs, and salt.
3. Stir in the rice and pour into a well-buttered 2-quart casserole.
4. Combine the sliced almonds and cinnamon and sprinkle over the pudding.
5. Bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees Farenheit) for about 1 hour or until the pudding has thickened sufficiently.
6. Press the whole almond into the pudding and cover the mark left.
7. Serve either hot or chilled with the light cream to pour over it.

Reviews

[Mikekey]

10 STARS! This is REAL comfort food. This is the type of rice pudding I grew up on, made by my grandmother. I remember when she was making rice for dinner, she always made extra, so she could make rice pudding for grandpa the next day. (He was from Norway-close to Finland :) ) She didn't use almonds, but I like the addition of them. And it isn't too sweet, which I like. Thanks for this keeper!

[Galley Wench]

Love it . . . just came out of the oven, but I couldn't wait to taste it! Seems to be setting up nicely, plan to serve it cold, well maybe only cool, since dinner's less than an hour away. When cooking the rice I added the peel of a lemon, then removed before adding to the milk mixture. After it was in the oven about 20 minutes I found the melted butter in the microwave, but doesn't seem to have affected the taste. :YUMMY: Made for ZWT #6.

[kittycatmom]

I really enjoyed this pudding!! Instead of sliced almonds I used almond extract - for DH's taste. I also used Splenda in place of sugar. Very good! Thank you for posting! Made for 1.2.3 Hits