Coffee, Caramel & Cream

This recipe was my Everest. It took YEARS to get it just right.

                                      

Let me start at the beginning....

Once upon a time I lived in New York City during a summer college internship. My roommate, Becky and I shared a teeny, tiny room in the beautiful, historic New Yorker hotel. It was so small our beds practically touched.

The hotel reserves one entire floor of rooms year-round for college interns. What a great idea! We were able to meet other college students of various career fields to spend our summer with, when we weren't working, that is. We became friends with Danielle and Samantha, two wonderful girls from Arizona.

It was on one fateful day in June that Danielle asked us if we had ever eaten dessert at Rice to Riches.

"What is that?"

Danielle explained to us that it was a little place on Spring St. right above Little Italy at Mulberry St. It was basically like an ice cream shop, except that instead of ice cream they served up a huge variety of unique rice pudding flavors.

I was hesitant, I didn't even eat regular rice pudding that often, what was I going to think of this place?

Well, one bite of their "Chocolate Chip Flirt" (all their flavors have super cute names) and I was hooked. I mean, head over heals in LOVE. It was creamy, cold, and delicious.

Oh look, here we are!

                               Becky, me, and Danielle in a booth at Rice to Riches

As far as I know this is the ONLY location. So until a franchise is available for me to put in my hometown ..... I had to try and re-create my own.

I tried, and I tried, and I googled and tried longer, over the course of 6-7 years. I can finally now say that it is done. I did it!

Creamy, cold, delicious!

The secret is that you have to use Arborio rice (Italian risotto rice). It's a high-starch, short-grain rice that becomes super creamy when it absorbs the milk.

                                    
Ingredients:

• 4 cups of whole milk
• 1.5 cups of heavy whipping cream
• 1tsp. vanilla
• 3/4 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup Italian Risotto rice
• 1 extra large bar of dark chocolate  (coarsely chopped)

Directions:

Place the milk, cream, vanilla, brown sugar, and rice in a large pot and bring to a simmer.

                   
Once it's simmering, lower the heat to medium-high, and continue to simmer until the rice is cooked and the mixture is thickened (about 30 minutes).  Be sure to stir it frequently.

This is how it should look.


                                            
Turn off the heat and transfer the pudding to a casserole dish.