Slow Cooking Thursday – Rice Pudding

For more slow cooker recipes visit Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. If you are looking for some delicious slow cooker recipes visit the other cooks in this recipe exchange.

Rice Pudding with Dried Cherries
This rice pudding with fruit tastes delicious served warm or cold. Eat it for dessert or for breakfast!

1 cup water
3/4 cup arborio rice, rinsed and drained
1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
Pinch salt
1/2 cup cherry juice or cranberry juice
1 cup dried cherries
1/8 teaspoon Watkins Cinnamon
Pinch of Watkins Nutmeg

1. Combine water, rice and evaporated milk in a 2- to 3-quart round slow cooker.

2. In a small saucepan, cook the sugar and milk over medium-high heat for 1 minute or until bubbles appear around the edges and the sugar has dissolved. Stir into slow cooker with salt. Cover and cook on LOW for 4-1/2 hours.

3. While rice is cooking, bring cherry juice to a boil and pour over cherries in a small bowl; let stand 10 minutes. Drain, reserving juice.

4. Stir in the cherries, 3 tablespoons juice, cinnamon and nutmeg into slow cooker; cover and cook on LOW for 20 minutes more.

5. Turn cooker off and allow pudding to cool, partially covered, for 30 minutes.

I used dried berries ‘n cherries (a mixture of blueberries, cherries, cranberries, and strawberries) in this rice pudding. Long grain white rice can be substituted for arborio rice.

Arborio rice, used in this recipe, makes the pudding creamy. It is named after a town in the Piedmont and Lombardy regions of northwest Italy. A short grain Italian white rice, Arborio is popular in risotto and other Italian rice dishes. Arborio’s short, plump grains contain more starch than most other rice varieties.

Stop by my Watkins Autumn Contest to find out how to win an assortment of Watkins products valued at $70.97.

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