Pudding and Beyond

Let it be known that the concerned mother shall make pudding for her sick children. At least my mom did, usually out of the J-E-L-L-O box; and I remember licking the bowl clean each time she did. But pudding need not just be comfort food for downtrodden days. It can be used as a base for rich pies, a refreshing parfait, or the filling between layers of cake. I found this recipe for homemade vanilla pudding in Real Simple Magazine. I am duplicating it here (sans rights, but I’m fairly sure that vanilla pudding is in the public domain):

hands-on time: 20 minutes
total time: 1 hour, 20 minutes (including chilling)
makes: 4 servings (2 cups)

1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole milk
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a saucepan.

Pour 1/4 cup of the milk into the sugar mixture, stirring to form a smooth paste. Whisk in the remaining milk and the egg yolks. Cook the pudding mixture over low heat, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon until thickened, about 15 minutes. Do not allow it to boil. Remove from heat and stir in the butter and vanilla.

Scrape the pudding into a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing the surface to make an airtight seal and prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until well chilled, about 1 hour.

Now for the honest truth…

• It really did come out great (it tasted as it should) but we did notice a few lumps in the pudding. Kelli and I suspect that it has something to do with the heating process and not stirring enough. It was even suggested that I use a blender before letting it cool to remove any remaining lumps.

(recipe by Sara Quessenberry)

Real Simple Magazine
www.realsimple.com

Posted by Andrew M. Lin at 12:05 pm. Follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a trackback from your own site.