Tuscan rice pudding tart: budino di riso recipe
Among the sweet treats you can find at many bars or pasticcerie all year round there is budino di riso: a kind of soft rice cupcake or vanilla-scented rice pudding baked in short pastry and sprinkled with icing sugar. A long time ago in the countryside of Siena it was called “budinone”, a special dessert that families used to prepare for special occasions by mixing a few ingredients: milk, rice, eggs and sugar, then baking it without the crumbly pastry used today to contain the scented soft rice cream.
![Budino di riso [Photo credits: Serena Angelini]](/shared/visittuscany/immagini/blogs/ricetta/budino_riso_wp5_14921.jpg)
Modern "budini di riso" are perfect for a Tuscan style picnic, so I think spring is the perfect season to try this recipe. Many thanks to Serena Angelini (Pici e castagne) for the recipe and the amazing photos.
Ingredients
For the rice mixture
- rice 250 g
- 1 liter milk
- 1 shot vin santo
- seeds extracted from a vanilla bean
- ground almonds 2 tablespoons
- 1 egg
- 1 knob of butter
- sugar 50 g
For the pastry
- flour 500 g
- butter 300 g
- icing sugar 150 g
- salt
- 4 egg yolks + 1 egg
![Budino di riso [Photo credits: Serena Angelini]](/shared/visittuscany/immagini/blogs/ricetta/budino_riso_top_wp5_14922.jpg)
Method
- Prepare the pastry by mixing the flour with the butter, sugar and a pinch of salt
- Add the egg yolks and the whole egg
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let rest in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Cook the rice in milk following this method:
- Pour the rice into a bowl, cover with cold water and massage the rice with your fingers until the water becomes white.
- Drain, rinse the rice under cold running water and repeat until the water runs clear
- Cook for a minute in boiling water, then drain it and rinse under cold water
- Pour the rice in a saucepan with the milk and cook over low heat for 20 minutes
- When the rice is cooked it will form a creamy sauce.
- Combine the ground almonds, the other egg, butter, Vin Santo, sugar and seeds from the vanilla bean
- Preheat the oven to 180°C
- Roll out the pastry and line 12 muffin tins
- Bake at 180°C for 10 minutes with a weight inside (for example, dried beans)
- Remove the dried beans and distribute the rice mixture into the pastry shells
- Bake for about 20-30 minutes
- Remove your "budini di riso" from the moulds and sprinkle with icing sugar Original recipe (in italian).
