This creamy baked rice pudding is topped with a homemade spiced pear compote to create one seriously tasty, throw it all together dessert!
Well, hello there! How was your weekend? For the first time in well over a month, we actually had an entire weekend at home chilling. It was SO good!
Since my back improved slightly and I’ve actually been able to get out of bed, we’ve been so busy at the weekends; be that driving hundreds of miles to view houses, having appointments with mortgage advisers, sorting out the listing of our house… then there was Christmas and New Year. I’m drained already and it isn’t even February yet.
Last week was exciting though – we went to London to get my eternity ring made! Can you believe we’ve been married almost a year already? The year has flown by. I can’t say we look back on the whole holiday as the best week of our lives unfortunately, but the wedding itself was exactly what we wanted as my husband and I tried very hard to not let it be ruined. My bridesmaids helped a lot on the day, keeping our mindset positive. There’s a lot to be said for amazing friends and I’m thankful I have them.
Now, let’s talk about this baked rice pudding. It’s one of those desserts where you can literally throw everything together and then you just have to bake it in the oven for 2 hours. It takes so long as it needs to be low and slow.
You want the rice to absorb the sweet, milk mixture and fluff up. You do still get that gorgeous skin on the top, but it does take a long time to bake. It’s SO worth the wait though… so creamy, sweet, soft, delicious.
And then I went and added a spiced pear compote to the top to really ramp up the flavours!
The pear compote is really simple to make as well. You have to peel and slice the pears, cook them with some sugar, water, cinnamon and lemon juice for 10-15 minutes then spoon it atop your rice pudding and devour.
I have a funny history with rice pudding. As a kid I can vividly remember pretending to like it and forcing myself to eat it. I have no idea why, mum knew I actually hated it, but I kept saying I wanted rice pudding.
Eventually I decided I hated it and pretty much went until 2014 without eating it. I’m not sure what made me try it again, but I’m so glad I did because I’m now obsessed.
Homemade is the best, but I think a Muller Rice has its place. There’s also this brand in the supermarkets called Rachel’s Divine Rice and I’m happy to tell you it really is divine. It’s thicker than Muller rice and way more set, but ridiculously creamy.
I’m now interested in seeing what kinds of flavours I can create myself. This time I decided to make the baked rice pudding plain, but top it with a fruit. I feel like trying rice pudding with things swirled into the mixture and baked into it too. I also want to try making it on the hob and in the slow cooker.
After consulting Google, the hob and slow cooker versions look like they’ll be more creamy and loose, the baked version definitely looks the most set and it has that skin on it which is delicious. I’ll get back to you on which I end up preferring after trying all three methods. I’ve only made the baked version up until now!
Hope you have a great week and enjoy this glorious baked rice pudding!
Baked Rice Pudding with Spiced Pear Compote
Ingredients
- For the rice pudding:
- 1 cup (230g) pudding rice
- 3/4 cup (150g) white/caster sugar
- 5 cups (1200ml) milk, full fat is best, but it works with skimmed and semi skimmed. The texture will be the creamiest with full fat.
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon, for sprinkling
- For the spiced pear compote:
- 3 medium pears, peeled, cored and sliced into small chunks
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup (50g) light brown sugar
- 3 tbsp water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 150C/300F and spray an 8×8 inch square pan with cooking spray. You can also use softened butter to grease the pan. Sprinkle the pudding rice into an even layer over the base of the pan.
- Place the sugar, milk and vanilla extract into a deep saucepan and place over a low heat. Warm gently until the sugar has dissolved. You don’t want the mixture to even simmer, just be warm throughout. This took around 5 minutes on low heat. I dipped a clean finger in to check the temperature, you want to feel that it’s pretty warm on your finger, but not scolding hot.
- Gently pour the milk mixture over the rice. At this stage you have two ways of adding the cinnamon – you can sprinkle it on top now, then when you stir the rice pudding after 90 minutes and it will mix in with the rice. OR you can place straight in the oven for 90 minutes, stir it and then sprinkle the cinnamon on top if you want the skin to be cinnamon-y. Completely up to you, I sprinkled the cinnamon on top and baked it before stirring it in.
- Bake for 90 minutes, then remove from the oven and gently stir. Place back in the oven for 30-45 minutes. Mine took 2 hours exactly, you want there to be no runny liquid and for the rice to be set, but still creamy looking. If you over cook it, it will look quite dried out!
- Remove from the oven and put to one side while you make the spiced pear compote. Place the pears, lemon juice, cinnamon, sugar and water into a medium sized saucepan over a medium heat. Stir frequently and bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low and then simmer for 10-15 minutes until the pears are tender.
- Leave the mixture to cool for 20 minutes. Baked Rice Pudding is best served warm, so after you’ve made the compote, it should be ready to serve. Divide the rice pudding between bowls and top with spiced pear compote.
- The rice pudding will keep covered (without the spiced pear compote on top) in the fridge for 4 days, make sure to reheat thoroughly when you want to serve it. The spiced pear compote will keep in an airtight container, in the fridge for 4 days.
Annie is a self-taught baker, recipe developer and food photographer, who has an obsession with dessert and beauty! 
