Low-Fat Rocky Road Brownies

Mix the first four ingredients together. Pour into a large baking dish (the more shallow the depth of the liquid, the quicker it cooks, but it cooks slowly in any case.) Bake in a slow oven (325 degrees) about 3 hours. Stir frequently; stir in cinnamon or other dry seasoning during last part of cooking to avoid the seasoning floating on top of milk. Stir in raisons after pudding has begun to thicken (after about two hours.) Continue to cook until thick.

Milk: use skim milk or reconstituted dry nonfat milk to keep it low calorie. Enrich it by using evaporated skim milk or dry milk reconstituted with somewhat less water. I have never tried it with soy milk, but I would bet that would work. I've used water and fruit juice to vary the flavor, and had success with that.

You can also use vanilla as a flavoring.

Stirring is necessary to distribute the rice during the first part of the cooking. After about an hour, and several stirs, it isn't quite so important. It will form a skin, or crust, if it isn't stirred. I like that part, though.

When I first found this recipe, I thought 1/4 cup of rice would never be enough to thicken this much liquid. But it will.

It's a hard recipe to mess up if you have the time and patience. And it's another one of those that fills the house with a wonderful fragrance, which I just love. If you find a good variation, let me know!

FATFREE DIGEST V96 #73