Baked rice pudding may just be one of the most comforting desserts of all time. This take on a classic uses lemon zest and thyme to infuse the milk and impart a touch more aroma and herbaceousness to the finished dessert. It looks great topped with edible flowers if serving at a dinner party! This tasty baked rice pudding is a real nostalgic favourite of ours, bringing back sweet memories of after-dinner treats. Using a mixture of cream and milk gives a really luxurious finish. Because it’s so rich we like it as the end to a lighter dinner. Because this recipe calls for baking we think it’s best served warm, while everything is still soft and delicious. You can, of course, serve it cool or chilled but the rice will firm up in the liquid mixture, and you’ll almost be able to cut through the pudding to serve it in hearty chunks. Any leftovers are good served as breakfast for a naughty-but-nice treat!
Ingredients
- zest of 2 unwaxed lemon
- 1 vanilla pod
- 800ml whole milk
- 800ml single cream
- 2 sprigs thyme
- 50g caster sugar
- 200g short-grain pudding rice
- 50g butter
Method
Preheat the oven to 140C/gas mark 1. Zest the lemons and split the vanilla pod in half, scraping out the seeds. Add both to a saucepan with the milk, cream and thyme. Gently bring the mixture up to a simmer, then stir in the caster sugar and rice.
Transfer the mixture to a shallow ovenproof dish, then roughly dice the butter and dot on top.
Bake for 30 mins, then stir well and cook for 1 further hr until the pudding is soft, creamy and has developed a golden skin on top.
Top Tip for making Lemon and thyme baked rice pudding
You can flavour this easy pudding anyway ay you like – try cinnamon, nutmeg or orange zest instead of the lemon and thyme.
