Abuelita’s Arroz con Leche (rice pudding)

It all began when I was in eighth grade and was responsible for bringing a Cuban dish for a party we were having in Spanish class. My mom pulled out an old dog-eared recipe card holder full of her family’s old recipes. She found my great grandmother’s recipe for arroz con leche and handed it to me. It seemed simple enough, so I made it for class and brought it the next day. I figured I had stumbled upon something important when my fellow students politely picked at all the other dishes and my arroz con leche was inhaled by everyone immediately. So, I started making it every year for my family for Christmas. I had to wrap it up in little containers to give them out individually because if I put it out with the other desserts at our Christmas dinner, people would complain about it being gone before they could have some. After a few years, my cousin surpassed me in cooking skills and I was more than happy to pass the baton in making the arroz con leche every year.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, when I saw my husband eating rice pudding out of a brightly colored plastic tub with gusto. “You know I can make homemade rice pudding,” I informed him. “Is it as good as this?”, he asked me incredulously. I stared at him, nonplussed.

I have decided to respond to that ridiculous question by making my first arroz con leche in about ten years. We’ll see what his verdict is.

I am attaching the recipe. It is a really easy dessert with not very many ingredients involved. It is time consuming, but so worth it. Trust me.

Arroz con Leche

  • Servings: 6-8
  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients:

•1 and 1/2 cups water
• 1 lemon peel
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream (or half and half)
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
•1/2 cup short grained rice

Directions:

1. Rinse rice. I do this by putting it in a small bowl and pouring water into the bowl, stirring the rice around with my fingers, and carefully pouring the water back out (don’t lose any rice!) I do this over and over again until the water pours out clear and no longer cloudy. I’m sure there is a better way to do it, but there is no turning back now.

2. Put rice, cinnamon stick, lemon peel, and water in a large pot and cook on medium heat, stirring often, until most of the water has cooked off, about seven minutes. DO NOT LET YOUR RICE BURN! Take out the cinnamon stick and lemon peel and discard.

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3. Add milk, cream, vanilla, sugar and salt. (The cream really makes this recipe). Reduce heat to medium low and simmer, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens, about one hour.

4. Allow to cool completely and store in the refrigerator. Serve chilled.

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Voila!

0 thoughts on “Abuelita’s Arroz con Leche (rice pudding)

  1. morgan

    Will give this a try soon! Husband and kids LOVE “milk-rice” as we call it. It’s slightly different, you use risotto rice (or special milk-rice) and cook it in sugared milk with vanilla (stir often. I tend to burn it every time and that risotto rice is so rich on starch, cleaning the pot is hell). You eat it either lukewarm or cold and serve it with a blend of cinnamon and sugar or jam or fresh fruit or condensed fruit or whatever you feel like.
    I’m sure they’ll love your recipe, too. 🙂 Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
      1. morgan

        Do so! They most easy thing to do would be: buy a package of “milk rice” and follow the instructions on the label 😉

        If you don’t get it, here’s the instructions:

        You’ll need 1 cup rice, about 1/2 cup sugar and at least 4-6 cups milk, maybe even more. Use medium or short grained rice, whatever you use for risotti or rice puddings, even sushi rice will do.
        Bring the milk to boil (start with 4 cups, you can add more later), stir in sugar and vanilla and add the rice once the sugar is dissolved. Then reduce the heat to medium-low and let it simmer until the rice is done (add more milk if necessary). This will take some time between 20 and 45 minutes, depending on the kind of rice you use.
        Your result should have a texture similar to risotto, something my brother describes as “like snot that’s running from a spoon”. It’s the most disgusting thing he ever told me concerning food (and he’s an excellent chef), but unfortunately it’s also pretty accurate. :-/

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