la bouillie farine France - hot cinnamon pudding

Now that everyone can eat dessert again, I'd like to share a recipe from Haiti.   It looks like pudding, it has the consistency of pudding, but it's served hot.  And it doesn't come in a box. 

Thanks go to SMT for making it for us and for showing me how it is done.

Bouillie Farine France

Ingredients – all quantities very approximate; adjust as needed.

Flour – a couple of handfuls, maybe ¾ cup
Water – at least 2 cups

Cinnamon bark – small handful

Star anise – optional (may be added with the cinnamon bark)

Sugar – a good scoop – between 2/3 and 1 cup

Salt – pinch

Condensed milk – 1-2 small cans (170g/160ml each)

Butter – 1 spoonful – optional

Process

Put flour in a pan and heat for a few minutes, stirring constantly. (Just dry flour. No butter or oil.)
When it begins to brown, pour it into a container and set aside to cool.

Put water into a pan with cinnamon bark and boil for a while till the water is getting brown, infused with cinnamon. Add more if a lot has boiled away.

Add sugar and salt; stir till dissolved.

Add a little water to the flour you set aside earlier, and stir until it’s no longer lumpy.

Add mixture to the cinnamon sugar water in the pan; stir in.

Turn flame/burner temperature down and simmer, stirring.

Pour one can of milk into the container where the flour mixture was and swish it around to get more of the mixture out; add it to the pan.

Simmer and stir, scraping sides and bottom. Add another can of milk unless it seems thin. (NB: At this point it is around the consistency of a good white sauce with cheese for mac and cheese; I would use the same sense of adding or not adding milk according to the thickness of the simmering concoction. It was good with two cans, though.)

Taste test. Add more sugar if need be.

At this point you may add a little butter if you like.

When it looks like the right consistency for pudding, pour into a bowl and serve very warm. If you finish it just before supper, it should be around the right temperature by the time you finish eating. No need to strain out the cinnamon bark – just pick it out as you eat. It won’t hurt you if you chew on it by accident. (-:

Yum!

serving up the Bouillie Farine France

Ideas for variations I’d like to try:

Add vanilla
Add chocolate chips (melt in at the end)
Replace cinnamon with lemon or orange zest or rind

Add chopped dried fruit with the cinnamon bark

Stir in raspberries, fresh or frozen (thawed!), probably at the end of the process

Try it cold.

I’m going to have fun playing with this when I visit my family this summer.

To the best niece in the world: I’m planning to try this with you when I visit. Consider yourself warned. (-: