I know making homemade pudding is pretty old school with all the available, decent-quality commercial puddings on the market, but there truly is a tremendous taste difference that warrants rolling up one’s sleeves every once in a while. Here’s a version with a deep caramel flavor you can enjoy on its own or you can use in various recipes.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- 4 Tbsps. (1/2 stick) butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3 egg yolks
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ¼ tsps. sea salt
- 1 ½ tsps. pure vanilla extract
Directions:
- Add the milk and cream to a large saucepan and cook over medium heat until small bubbles start to form on the surface, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside for later use.
- Melt the butter in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Raise the heat to medium-high and add the brown sugar. Simmer, stirring frequently, until the mixture caramelizes and begins to have a nutty aroma, about 5 minutes.
- Gradually pour the hot caramel mixture into the reserved cream mixture, whisking vigorously to fully combine. If the mixture is lumpy, pass it through a fine sieve.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Add about a cup of the hot liquid to the eggs and whisk vigorously to prevent curdling. Add the cornstarch and salt to the egg mixture and whisk to fully combine.
- Add the egg/cornstarch mixture to the pan with the hot liquid and cook over medium heat until the mixture is thick and just begins to boil, about 3 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and add the vanilla extract.
- Ladle the pudding into decorative cups, cover with shrink wrap and refrigerate several hours or overnight.
Makes about six 4-ounce servings.
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