World's Best Rice Pudding

Ingredients

  • ½ vanilla bean
  • 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons whole milk
  • 1/3 cup Carnaroli, Arborio or short-grain rice
  • 2 ½ tablespoons sugar
  • 1 2/3 cups heavy cream.

Instructions

Split the vanilla bean, scrape out the seeds and place the seeds and pod in a medium saucepan. Add the milk and bring to a simmer. Stir in the rice and simmer, stirring occasionally, until it reaches the consistency of oatmeal, 25 to 30 minutes. Stir in the sugar. Cool to room temperature, then chill.

Transfer the chilled rice to a large bowl. Whip the cream to stiff peaks. Fold the whipped cream into the rice, little by little, to desired thickness. It should be light and creamy.

Additional Notes

My notes: I prefer short grain rice and definitely not Arborio. Also, I think 1 cup whipped cream is plenty. I like my pudding sweeter so I add 1/2 cup sugar to this quantity.