I promised a pudding recipe and tips on how to make it from scratch and so now I’m delivering! Homemade pudding is very, very cheap to make and it’s one of those basic cooking lessons that all good cooks should have tucked into the back of their repertoire of abilities.
Pudding is one dish where you definitely have to use the right equipment. You MUST have a heavy bottomed sauce pan to make pudding. A heavy bottom sauce pan will help the pudding mixture heat evenly, thus preventing scorching and lumpiness. The second thing you need to make pudding is a flexible, heat proof spatula that is capable of reaching all sides and corners of the pan. (Stirring is very important and if you don’t do it correctly, some of your pudding will stay stuck to your pan rendering you a kitchen dunce!)
But don’t take my word for it! Try out your cooking skills and sample this Vanilla pudding recipe adapted from the Joy of Cooking:
Mix together very thoroughly 1/3 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons of cornstarch, and 1/8 teaspoon salt. You may as well mix this together in your sauce pan to avoid an extra dirty dish!
Very gradually stir in 1/3 cup of half and half. (You can also use whole milk.) Your goal is to make a smooth runny paste. Once your paste is runny and there are no lumps use a wire whisk and whisk in 1 2/3 cups half and half (or whole milk).
Tip: I like the texture and creaminess of half and half but I don’t want quite that many calories. To reduce the calories but retain some of the thickness and creaminess of the dessert, you can use a mixture of whole milk and half and half that totals 2 cups.
Heat the mixture over medium-high heat. You must stir constantly!!!! If you don’t, you’ll likely scorch your dessert. Once the mixture begins to thicken reduce the heat to low. Simmer and cook for approximately one minute. Remove from heat and then add 2 teaspoons of vanilla.
Once the pudding is finished, I prefer to leave it in a large bowl because it goes so quickly. You can also put the pudding in small dessert cups for a more formal presentation. (Admittedly, a fancy presentation is wasted on my crew.) Enjoy!