This traditional German recipe for baked rice pudding with apples and raisins might be the best baked rice pudding out there! Old fashioned and super comforting on a cold rainy day!
Preheat the oven to 160 Celsius (320 F)and line a casserole dish with some butter.
Add milk, rice, salt, vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon to a pot on medium heat. If using a vanilla bean, scrape it out, and add the pulp as well as the pod to the pot. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat and let cook on low for about 20 minutes or until the rice is just cooked and the pudding has a creamy thick consistency.
Stir in the soaking liquid from the rum raisins and stir. Take rice off heat and transfer onto a shallow plate to allow for quick cooling. You can also put it into the fridge to chill.
Zest the lemon right into the sugar and rub it into the sugar with your fingertips.
Separate the eggs and add yolks to the bowl of your stand mixer along with the lemon sugar and softened butter. Whisk until light and fluffy for about 7 minutes.
Peel and core the apples and grate them coarsely. Drizzle with lemon juice to prevent browning.
Fold rum raisins, then whisked butter mixture into cooled rice pudding. Start whisking the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff.
Fold egg whites into the rice pudding mix carefully and just until combined.
Pour half of this mix into your casserole and top with grated apples, then the rest of the rice mixture. Bake for 50 minutes, covering the casserole with aluminum foil towards the end.
Let cool slightly and serve sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.