Arroz Con Leche (rice pudding)

Arroz con leche-Mmmm. The exact translation to this is rice with milk. Think of arroz con leche as the Mexican version of rice pudding. The ingredients are so few and the recipe is so simple that there really is no excuse to not give it a try.

I will have to say that growing up this was my favorite Mexican dessert. My whole family loved this so much that my mom would make a huge batch (literally two gallons of milk at a time). At the time it seemed like such a chore to make because it was a large amount. We would avoid making it during the summer because it would take a long time to cook and I always had the impression that it was a hard dessert to make. In reality, it is quite simple and if you make a moderate amount, it doesn't take very long.

A few things to consider before making it:

# 1: Do not use ground cinnamon. I would only use this to sprinkle some over the top of your bowl at the very end. I have tasted arroz con leche with ground cinnamon and it just does not taste the same. You need the actual cinnamon stick because you get the flavor of the cinnamon without actually having the grainy texture from the ground cinnamon. Actually, I remember getting pieces of the cinnamon stick while I was eating my arroz con leche because my mom would just leave them in there. All we did was remove it as we ate. 

#2: The sugar you use makes a difference. To be honest, my mom would always use whatever we had on hand. She always tried to make it with piloncillo, an unrefined cane sugar made by boiling and evaporating sugarcane juice. In the stores you will find something that looks like brown sugar in the shape of a cone.You can also just use brown sugar which will give you a similar taste and color as piloncillo. White sugar would be your last resort as it will just make it sweet with no color. 

#3:  Are you a hot or cold person? I always wondered what was the right temperature to eat it. I was always so anxious to get my hands on it that I would just grab my bowl and start to eat it. Then, the second day I would have seconds that were refrigerated. My mom would never cover it with saran wrap so the top would get covered in this hard shell which happens to most dairy desserts that are left uncovered. Boy was this my favorite part. I guess you can say it is like cold pizza, you are not supposed to like it cold but some people do.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of jasmine rice
4 cups of 2 % milk
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp packed brown sugar

Step 1: Pour your rice, cinnamon stick, and milk in a large cooking pot. Bring to a boil on medium high heat while stirring constantly so that the rice does not stick to bottom of the pot.

Step 2: Once it comes to a boil turn to a low heat to get a constant simmer. At this time pour the sugar and stir consistently until it thickens. 

*At the time that I was making this,  I was going to have guests over so I doubled my recipe and it took me about 30 minutes. 

*Always stir while cooking and don't walk away because the bottom of the pot can burn and stick.

(This picture is as soon as you pour in the sugar.)

(This is once it is done. Notice how it thickened and you can actually see the rice grains.)

Step 3: Pour into individual cups or bowls as it will thicken as it cools off. Let it cool off completely before storing in the refrigerator. Enjoy 😋