Staving Off the Winter Dark

There’s no snow in SoCal so Christmas isn’t freezing or white. It has been dark-er and cold-er than I’d like though.

The effect of the 4:30 PM nightfall is that around 7 PM (the walking hour for the dog three seasons of the year), I crave dessert.

To be fair, I crave dessert year round. But most of the time I can satisfy myself with a low calorie treat: fruit, a square or two of chocolate, a graham cracker.

This COVID winter feels different.

All summer, tiny amounts of the usual–and unusual–delicious treats worked (with the addition of sourdough discard chocolate cake, carrot banana bran muffins, and that one time some friends gave me a dozen ripe, wrinkled fruits, that ended up in a passion fruit pound cake that I will never make again; too decadent, even for the likes of me).

Many people have complained about quarantine weight gain. Not me. I have gained no weight (though I may have gone a bit soft).

Leaving age and likely muscle mass loss aside, allowing myself dessert on a more regular basis has had the effect of making me a little less precious about my sweets. A lot less panicked when I don’t have something yummy saved for after dinner. And I’m a LOT less likely to over-eat something super sugary.

I attribute my small weight loss over the last 9 months to regular, un-rationed, un-“earned” sweets. A relief to me while everyone else seemed to be complaining of gaining.

Which brings me to the present COVID winter. Nothing is doing it. No sweets are making the long dark night tolerable. I’m still wanting dessert long after I should be asleep, no matter how much tea and water I drink.

This craving for warmth and richness; sweetness and satiety has led me to rice pudding.

I’m making instapot rice pudding, right now.

I LOVE rice pudding. Angie and Tony Caligeri, proprietors of The Chase Bar and Grill, always had the most delicate, chilled rice pudding. The smell of cinnamon and vanilla preceded the glass dish to the table. It felt firm, nearly al dente on the spoon, yet yielded, melting on a warm tongue.

Keer is also a favorite; a slightly milkier version that I get (take-out these days) from Indian restaurants. I’ve eaten rice pudding warm and cold, solid and creamy, and I always LOVE it…but I’ve never made it.

Until now.

Turns out it is dead easy, and fast (if you have an instapot).

I substituted Lyle’s golden syrup instead of maple, and I added broken up cinnamon sticks. To keep it lactose free for Mark, I used coconut milk instead of cream.

It’s delicious. And most importantly, it is so rich that just a few spoonfuls satisfied me. Perfect.

The only change I would make is to the sugar source. Sepia is not the most appetizing color for a dessert. If I was preparing it for “people” (aka guests), I might try to keep the color white instead of brown-pink.

As it stands, I recommend both the recipe and the indulgence, for staving off the winter dark.