Lemon Cardamom Anisette Budino Di Riso

• Cake "Crust"
• 5 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 cups flour (Italian 00)
• 2 egg yolks
• Rice Pudding
• 3 cups milk
• 2/3 cup rice (might as well go all the way and find Italian "originario" short grain rice for this)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 6 Cardamom pods
• 1 pinch salt
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons anisette liqueur
• 1 grated meyer (if available) lemon peel
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 egg
• 1 meyer (if available) lemon peel

1. Combine the butter with the sugar, then add the egg yolks and flour. Work into a dough that barely holds together, adding a bit more butter if necessary.
2. Wrap in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
3. Cook the rice: Bring 1 1/2 cups of the milk to a boil with the cardamom pods. Add the rice, 1/4 cup of the sugar, butter and salt. Simmer for 30-40 minutes until almost all of the milk is absorbed and the rice is soft but slightly toothy. Take it off the heat, remove the cardamom pods, and add the grated meyer lemon peel and anisette liqueur.
4. Make the pasty cream while the rice is cooking. In a separate pan, bring the remaining 1 1/2 cups of milk to a boil with the whole meyer lemon peel, then take it off the heat and let it rest for 10 minutes. Remove the peel. In another bowl, mix the flour, remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, and egg until smooth. Add some warm milk from the pan into the bowl to liquefy it a bit further and mix. Reheat the milk in the pan at a low heat, and while mixing, slowly add the contents of the bowl. Continue to keep it on heat, mixing gently to avoid clumps forming, until it thickens to a cream the consistency of yogurt. Take it off the heat and let cool.
5. Add the pastry cream to the rice until well combined. (try not to eat this by itself!)
6. Remove the cake crust from the refrigerator. With a rolling pin, roll the dough flat to a thickness of 1-2 mm.
7. Take a small muffin pan of 3" diameter. (I found a silicone small rectangular mold that also works well). Line the molds with the cake crust. The dough is delicate to work with so do the best you can, fudge if you need to. It's ok if it's not perfect as it will settle once baking. Once in the mold, puncture the dough with a fork a few times.
8. Fill the molds to the top with the rice pudding/cream filling. Bake in the oven at 375 degrees F for 25-35 minutes, or until the cake crust starts to turn golden.
9. Remove the molds from the oven. When they have cooled down, remove the "budini" from the molds and serve warm or at room temperature with some powdered sugar sprinkled on top. I try and save mine for the morning after, for breakfast.

crust, butter, sugar, flour, egg yolks, milk, rice, sugar, pods, salt, butter, anisette liqueur, lemon peel, flour, egg, lemon peel

Taken from food52.com/recipes/9279-lemon-cardamom-anisette-budino-di-riso (may not work)