Note: Use any colourful glace fruits, not just cherries,  to decorate Christmas Rice Pudding.

Ingredients

• 1/4 c pudding- or short grain rice
• boiling water
• 5 3/4–6 c milk
• 1 good vanilla pod, divided into 2 lengthwise
• 1 c icing/confectioner’s sugar plus extra if needed
• 1/4 tsp freshly grated lemon or orange rind
• 6 egg yolks, beaten
• ground cinnamon
• 1 c double/heavy cream
• almond halves, toasted lightly
• red and green glace cherries, halved or chopped
• glace fruit to decorate

Method

1. Wash the rice thoroughly and drain. Cook in plenty of boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain well.
2. Meanwhile, heat 2 cups of the milk with half the vanilla pod, 1/3 c of the sugar and the lemon or orange rind. Stir to dissolve the sugar; add the part-cooked rice. Cover and simmer until the rice is cooked, about 20–25 minutes. Remove the vanilla pod. It can be rinsed, dried and put into sugar to make vanilla sugar.
3. Beat the egg yolks with the rest of the sugar in a double boiler over barely simmering water. Warm the remaining milk and add to the egg yolk/sugar mixture while stirring. Drop in the other half of the vanilla pod. Continue cooking the custard, stirring, over low heat until it thickens and coats the back of a spoon.
4. Remove the remaining vanilla pod. Stir the cooked rice into the custard, mixing well. Add a pinch of cinnamon and stir again. Cover and let cool.
5. Whip the cream and add to the rice pudding. Mix thoroughly. Pour the Christmas Rice Pudding into a pretty serving bowl. Cover and chill until serving time.
6. When ready to serve, dust the top of the Christmas Rice Pudding with cinnamon. Arrange the almond halves, glace cherries and glace fruits on the pudding in a decorative pattern.
7. Serve Christmas Rice Pudding as part of a dessert buffet with Christmas Pudding, Christmas Cake, Stained Glass Fruitcake and German Stollen.

Image via Wikipedia