First Pumpkin Pie of Autumn

I love pumpkin pies... and this one was extra-delicious because instead of evaporated milk I used light cream... thanks Betty Crocker! You can tell by the extra-light color and mousse-like texture, and the flavor was great. Only drawback was a store-bought crust... Pillsbury just isn't as good as homemade. I need to find a nice, soft, and sweet pie dough recipe. Open to suggestions!

Designations of Creamy Deliciousness

So as I was pouring the last of our farm-fresh ridiculously expensive glass-bottled heavy cream (which we got while strawberry picking) into my hot cocoa, I once again pondered the various types of cream and dairy products. I could never get a straight answer as to what the difference between heavy cream and whipping cream was. I tried to look it up before and things were still unclear, and finally tonight, wikipedia cleared it up for me! Hurrah!



So here in the US, this is the differences between creams:

• Half and Half (10.5–18% fat)
• Light, coffee, or table cream (18–30% fat)
• Medium cream (25% fat)
• Whipping or light whipping cream (30–36% fat)
• Heavy whipping cream (36% or more)
• Extra-heavy, double, or manufacturer's cream (38–40% or more), generally not available at retail except at some warehouse and specialty stores.

So... heavy cream may or may not have more fat than whipping cream at the store, depending on who's making it... but if it says both heavy AND whipping then you know its the hard stuff. :)

Also, more fun dairy products:

• Clotted Cream (UK) is 55% fat and soooo delicious, mmm!
• Butter is about 80% fat depending on the type
• Plugrá is 82% fat and a type of butter my dad is obsessed with
• Sour Cream (12-18% fat) is soured with bacteria until thick
• Cream fraiche (28% fat) is only slightly soured and less thick than sour cream, mmm!
• Malai (India) is similar to clotted cream, its heated slowly to thicken

So there, the fruit of my research! Now I could go for a nice scone with jam and a big dollop of clotted cream... anyone else?

And for fun, check out this chart of the progression of various dairy products from milk and how they are all connected.

Creamy Rice Puddin'

So yesterday did anyone else notice the turn-of-the-century western (mostly Oklahoma) theme on Turner Classic Movies? I did, and we had it on in the background all day! From Tulsa, to Oklahoma! to the Rainmaker... well basically I was in the mood to churn my own butter by nightfall.

Since I didn't have anything in the house to churn butter from, I turned my attentions to the chinese leftovers in the fridge. After we polished most of them off, I came here to search slashfood for how to deliciously reconstitute my dried to shriveled white rice. Of course, I came across a recipe for rice pudding and got distracted and sucked in.

So rice pudding it was! I didn't take any pictures, but there are leftovers in my fridge and mmm, it is GOOD! I have made rice pudding before but this was like... ambrosia, it was DELICIOUS rice pudding. I made a few little alterations to their recipe.

So I grabbed a pot and added:
About 2 cups of 2 day old chinese white rice
~ half a cup of heavy cream
~ 2.5 cups of milk
half a cup of sugar
2 dashes of salt

I brought this to a boil, and of course, it boiled over and made the biggest, most horrifying burnt milk-everywhere mess in the world on my cooktop. Ugg. This was while I was feeding Arin prunes, and let's just say while I was shrieking and cleaning up the wreckage he got himself the prunes and flung spoonfuls of it all over his freshly-bathed newly PJ'd self. Another disaster, but one at a time...

So I rescued the pudding, and put it on the backburner to simmer. Since I lost so much liquid, I added in a healthy dose of half-n-half since I was now out of heavy cream, and a little bit more sugar. You know, just cause. The recipe says you can keep adding more liquid to make it creamier, and it all depends on how dry your rice was... mine was pretty dry.

Then I added in a few shakes of cinnamon and a teaspoon and a half of vanilla. I let it simmer and absorb for about 40 minutes... until the rice soaked up almost all the liquid and it got all gooey and delicious. It did start to burn on the bottom a tiny bit so I would recommend stirring at more regular intervals than I did (Rainmaker was on and I just had to see Katharine Hepburn's antics! Not to mention clean up a pruney Bobosaur).

So, all said and done, it came out SO good. I still have a crusty mess on the cooktop that I'll have to scrape off with a razor... but it was so worth it. If you like rice pudding, or any good down-home comfort food... make this! Especially if Oklahoma! or something is on TV.

And here's the link to the original slashfood recipe with more info:
Rice Pudding with Leftover Rice