Sweet Rice Pudding Brulee

I was going to make a 3-chocolate layer creme brulee but I was missing one of the chocolates, so I made this instead. The recipe is from the book Creme Brulee by Whitecap, and instructions are copied verbatim.

I liked the recipe, but it wasn't my favorite. The rice *did* expand and I think I would have liked it better if there were more custard and less rice. (My bad for not reading the recipe completely before starting.)

Ingredients

2 cups whole milk

1/2 cup risotto rice

1/4 cup superfine sugar

4 egg yolks

1 cup hevy cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup superfine sugar, to finish

Instructions

1. Pour the milk into a saucepan, bring to a boil, hen add the rice. Reduce the heat and cook over a moderate heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until the rice is soft and about one-third of the milk remains. 

2. Take the saucepan off the heat and stir in the sugar. Use a fork to mix together the egg yolks, cream, and vanilla extract in a bowl, then strain into the rice and mix well. 

3. Arrange 6 heatproof ramekins or custard cups in a roasting pan. Spoon the rice and custard into the dishes, then pour warm water into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the dishes. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes until the custard is just set. 

4. Leave the dishes to cool in the water for 40-50 minutes. Lift out, sprinkle the tops with sugar, and caramelize with a blowtorch. Serve within 20-30 minutes. 

Tip: These puddings can be eaten cold, but as they cool the rice swells to make a much firmer finish. 

My Notes

Elsewhere in this book, "just set" is followed by "with a slight softness at the center," so I stopped baking (10 minutes past 25 minutes) when the edges were firm and the center was a little jiggly. 

I didn't notice the part about caramelizing immediately and serving quickly until they had been in the fridge for a few hours (I assumed that they were like other creme brulees that needed to stay in the fridge before eating), so I don't know what they would have been like at room temperature. 

I used my vanilla bean paste in lieu of vanilla extract.