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This week's Resolution Recipe: Caramelized Ginger Rice Pudding.

1 1/3 cup sugar, divided
3 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp salt
2" piece of cinnamon stick (I used true, which has a nicer flavor, but also is softer and disintegrated. See below.)
(I added: pinch ground nutmeg)
grated zest of 1 large lemon
2" fresh ginger, peeled and cut into 4 1/2" rounds
3/4 cup long-grain white rice
3 eggses
2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup finely diced candied ginger, with the sugar rinsed off, patted dry

Make caramel: Combine 1/3 cups sugar and 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until sugar dissolves. When the caramel has turned a deep honey color - LIES! THIS IS THE WRONG WAY TO MAKE CARAMEL - remove pan from heat. Pour the caramel into a bundt pan or pudding mold (I used six ramekins for individual servings. Ramekin. Ramekin. Arugula.) and cool 1-2 minutes or until thick enough to coat the sides of the mold. Tilt so the sides are fully covered in caramel. Set aside.

Place milk, cream, salt, remaining 1 cup sugar, cinnamon, zest, and fresh ginger in a ~~medium~~ large saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 2 minutes. Add rice and simmer, stirring frequently, about 20 minutes until rice is soft. Remove from heat; cool until lukewarm. Discard ginger and cinnamon.

Beat eggses and vanilla. Add to rice mixture with candied ginger. Bring a kettle of water to a boil and heat oven to 350. Spoon rice mixture into mold. Set in a large baking dish and pour boiling water into the dish so it comes halfway up the side of the mold. Bake until the pudding is set, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Remove pudding from oven and let cool. After 1 hour, invert pudding onto a serving plate, tapping sides to help it release.

What worked: I adore rice pudding, but the wife does not care for raisins so I don't make it. This seemed like a decent compromise. It's less work than it sounds. I also didn't bother inverting the puddings, letting people spoon out directly from the ramekins. They took 1 hour since they were smaller than the bundt pan.

What didn't: These instructions for making caramel are a lie. This produces boiling sugar water, which never caramelizes. So you throw it out and instead put 1/3 cup sugar with a scant 1 tsp water in the pan, and you get actual caramel.
Also, the ginger and cinnamon stick are hard to fish out once the rice has cooked. Which took significantly longer than 20 minutes; I finally gave up when it was still a bit crunchy. I hoped the bain-marie cooking would finish it, which it did. I probably could have stopped after 20 minutes in retrospect.

The wife is not as fond of ginger as I am and found this a bit over-gingery. I found it a bit too sweet. Either way it could have used more lemon zest, although to be fair I used a Meyer lemon which isn't tart.

Will I make it again? Not sure. If I do, I'll infuse the milk/cream mixture for 20 minutes without the rice. Then fish them out, add the rice, and cook over low heat (covered) which might produce a softer rice more quickly. I'd cut the sugar and (in deference to the wife) perhaps not infuse with fresh ginger.