Serving Up {Dessert}: Raspberry Rice Pudding

Rice pudding may not be everyone's cup of tea.  I don't know that it was even mine until six years ago when my best friend and I went to NYC to celebrate our (milestone) birthdays that year.  While we were scouring the town for good deals and good eats, we stopped in one afternoon for a treat at Rice to Riches - a Rice Pudding "parlor" near the downtown shopping.   Be still my heart!  It was like an ice cream parlor with a dozen or more different flavors of rice pudding to choose from.  And then there were the toppings!  Everything from granola to crushed candy to fresh fruit.  I was hooked.  Since then, I happily order Rice Pudding whenever it's available and relish in it's delightful goodness!

Although I haven't had a chance to master a dozen different flavors (a goal I will someday accomplish), I did stumble across this recipe for Raspberry Rice Pudding on a local television morning show a few years back.  It keeps my cravings for rice pudding in check and the raspberry/almond combination wows when I take it to a summer picnic potluck.

Be warned... as written, this recipe makes a LOT!  You either need to be feeding a large group or you need to REALLY like rice pudding :)

RASPBERRY RICE PUDDING     
printable version

8 cups half & half
4 cups cooked medium grain rice
2 cups sugar
½ tsp. salt
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries

Pour 7 cups of half & half, as well as cooked rice, sugar and salt into a 4-quart stock pot. Stir at medium heat with a wooden spoon constantly until the mixture thickens (it should take about 45-55 minutes). After the mixture has thickened, remove from the heat.
In a separate bowl, add 2 eggs that have been whipped and acclimated to room temperature. Slowly add one tablespoon at a time of the thickened pudding to the eggs while whisking to bring the eggs to the pudding temperature. Then add eggs to the pudding and fully incorporate.
Add the final cup of half & half, the vanilla and raspberries to the mixture.
Transfer the pudding to a large bowl. Cover pudding immediately with plastic wrap to prevent a skin and serve warm or cold.