Rice pudding with caramelised apples

Another day, another rice pudding. I told you all about how much I enjoy this childhood dessert of mine last month and even shared a recipe for chocolate rice pudding with poached pear and praline.
This time, what I want to share with you is a wonderfully creamy vanilla rice pudding topped with caramelised apples.

I really love apples in desserts: stewed and pureed for apple compote, beautifully layered in an apple tart, sliced and arranged nicely with a lot of sugar and cinnamon in a rustic galette, caramelised and melting in your mouth in an exquisite tarte tatin, simply stuffed with nuts and honey and baked in the oven with a little topping of meringue... the ideas are endless! But you can really win me over with a topping of caramelised apples combined with some of my favourite sweet things: crepes and rice pudding.
The rice pudding from the recipe below is different from the last recipe. I added cream to the milk and a whole vanilla bean split in half, releasing all its amazing flavour in the mixture. You end up with a wonderful bowl of creamy rice pudding and it is hard not to eat it all on its own before the addition of apples.
But the caramelised apples are indeed a lovely plus to have with it. The recipe below allows for a small amount per bowl. And they would also be delicious as a topping for crepes, panna cotta, vanilla ice cream, French toast etc.

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What is your favourite way to eat rice pudding? Plain or with toppings? Have you ever had it with apples before?
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Rice Pudding with Caramelised Apples Recipe (Gluten Free, Vegetarian)

Ingredients (serve 4*)

For the rice pudding
450ml milk
50ml cream
40g demerara sugar
vanilla bean (split in half length wise)
75g pudding rice

For the caramelised apples
60g demerara sugar
20g unsalted butter
2 apples (peeled, cored and diced in 1cm cubes)

The rice pudding

1. Put the milk, cream, sugar and split vanilla bean in a saucepan over a medium heat and bring to a boil. Pour in the rice, turn to low heat and simmer gently for 40 minutes while stirring frequently (so the rice does not stick to the bottom of the saucepan). When cooked, the rice should be tender and creamy with most of the liquid absorbed.

2. Transfer the rice pudding into a serving bowl and let it cool down (I also add a small piece of baking paper at the surface of the mixture so a skin does not form).

The caramelised apples

2. Put a frying pan over a medium heat. Add in the sugar and butter. Once the butter has completely melted, stir and keep doing so until the crumbly sugar has transformed into a velvety amber coloured caramel sauce. This should take 8 to 10 minutes.

3. Add the apple cubes to the caramel. Coat the apple pieces with the caramel sauce. The caramel should harden a bit when in contact with the cold apples. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes (this depends on the variety of apples you picked - I find Cox apples for example cook faster) stirring often until the apples have softened (but not mushed) and the caramel is all melted. Transfer into a serving bowl and set aside.

To serve, divide the rice pudding between four small dessert bowls and pour some caramelised apples on top (I like to serve this cold but you could also warm the rice pudding a little in the microwave before serving if you prefer).

Bon appétit!

Note: * I wrote here that it serves 4 people. The portions will feel small but this is a rich dessert. I divide it between the two of us only on occasions when we had a very light lunch or dinner beforehand.