Apricot Rice Pudding

Ingredients

• 0.3 cup apricots dried diced
• 4.5 cups percent fat whole
• 4  egg yolks 
• 0.5 teaspoon lemon zest freshly grated
• 1 cup short-grain rice raw rinsed (recommended: Arborio)
• 0.5 cup sugar 
• 0.3  vanilla pod split
• 8 servings whipped cream for garnish

Equipment

• sauce pan
• plastic wrap
• ramekin

Directions

1. In a covered heavy saucepan, bring the rice, milk, apricots, vanilla scrapings and lemon zest to a simmer over medium heat. Immediately reduce the heat to as low as possible, cover tightly, and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until the rice is very tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Turn off the heat. Stir the egg yolks into the cooked rice mixture and stir just until thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the sugar.
2. Pour the rice pudding into ramekins or dessert cups and let cool. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours or until ready to serve, up to 24 hours.
3. Serve with whipped cream.