Horchata

 

It is pretty rare for me to splurge on a drink when at a restaurant, but when I see horchata on a menu, it's hard for me to resist.  The sweet drink pairs so well with Mexican flavors.  I've experimented with making horchata at home a few times, and after tweaking the recipe am pretty happy with the results.  While this recipe benefits from planning ahead, the hands-on prep time is very minimal.  I prefer to let the rice water steep with the cinnamon sticks overnight, but I suspect if I started it early enough in the morning, we could still enjoy some tasty horchata with dinner. 

Horchata
Note: I find it more cost-effective to buy cinnamon sticks at Costco as they keep for quite a while.  I suspect there are also other good places to buy them in bulk.  Also, after soaking the rice and water, the rice can either be discarded or used to make rice pudding.
Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked white long-grain rice
5 cups water
4 large cinnamon sticks
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/4-1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk (I ended up using about half of a 14 oz. can)

Directions:
1. Pour the rice and water into a blender; blend for about 1 minute, until the rice begins to break up.  Add the cinnamon sticks and let stand in refrigerator for a minimum of 3 hours, or overnight.  (I prefer to transfer the mixture to a pitcher rather than letting it sit in my blender overnight, as my blender leaks a bit.)

2. Remove the cinnamon sticks and strain the rice water into a pitcher.  Add the milk, vanilla, almond extract and sweetened condensed milk to taste.  (While the amounts of all of these final ingredients can be added to taste, I particularly like to start with only about 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk, then taste and add additional condensed milk until it's sweet enough.)  Chill and stir before serving over ice.

Source: adapted from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Lolas-Horchata/Detail.aspx?soid=recs_recipe_seed