Welcome to Christmas, CA - Mexican Rice Pudding

This is a great last minute Christmas recipe, because it doesn't take much to make. This recipe is based off of the short story Welcome to Christmas, CA by Kiersten White in My True Love Gave to Me edited by Stephanie Perkins. There are whole bunch of dishes that are made in Welcome to Christmas, CA, but the one I'm most familiar with is rice pudding. My mom has made it as long as I can remember. Everyone interprets rice pudding in their own way, but this recipe follows the way my mom makes it. Enjoy!

1 cup raw rice

2 cups water

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup sugar 

pinch of salt

1 tbspn vanilla

a stick of cinnamon

ground cinnamon

Note: Since there are so many ways to make this recipe there are a few steps that you can moderate as you go along. If you want your rice pudding to be more soup-like add more water after the rice has cooked. Also I noted 1/2 cup of sugar, but if you want it to be more or less sweet feel free to add more or less sugar.

Cook the cup of rice in the 2 cups of water along with the stick of cinnamon. When the rice has cooked stir in the milk, salt, sugar, and vanilla. Let it simmer for a couple more minutes. Take it off the heat. Before serving take out the cinnamon sticks. When serving, sprinkle some ground cinnamon on top.