Rice Pudding Combats the Cold - Dinner Tonight - Cooking

Creamy Rice Pudding Combats the Cold

No Comments | Written on December 15, 2011 at 5:00 pm, by Kristin Porter

Growing up in the Midwest means I’ve seen my fair share of snow days . . . and my fair share of delicious rice puddings. Frosty temps and icy roads often meant hours of sledding and snowman building when school was canceled for the day. My brothers and I would stay outside til our noses turned bright red, then warm up with steamy cups of hot chocolate and big bowls of Mom’s homemade rice pudding. Classic Rice Pudding is one of her specialties, and was just the thing to combat howling winds and freezing fingertips.

While afternoon snowball fights don’t come around as often as they used to, I still like to indulge in the flavors of those special days when the weather turns bad. Although, now I’ve traded in powdered hot chocolate mix for White Hot Chocolate, and indulgent rice pudding for Dairy-Free Banana Rice Pudding.

This rice pudding recipe is dairy-free (meaning you can eat it if you have lactose issues), but it’s rich and creamy like the version I remember from my childhood, and it’s made lighter and silkier with smooth rice milk and sweet ripe bananas. Brown basmati rice replaces white rice for a unique texture (and more fiber), and a dusting of spicy cinnamon on top rounds out the ultracomforting treat.