Bear Essentials: Pudding ( + Butterscotch Pudding )

Butterscotch Pudding,

such a January food.

Simple, quick, divine.

Warm for dark nights in

or chilled as the biting wind -

Eh, screw the diet.

Double Haiku.  WIN!

                      And you guys thought I had no class.  Sheesh.  Have a little faith.

This was the recipe that turned me around on pudding.  That led me to love homemade pudding so much that I would one day make it the subject of my very first installment of Bear Essentials.  That made me realize that pudding doesn't have to be gummy, tasteless muck delivered in foil-topped cuplets.  Plus, it inspires some wicked poetry.  Seems like an all-around winner, yes?  Yes.    

Butterscotch Pudding
by Ruth Cousineau 
in Gourmet

Dark Brown Sugar  [ packed, 1/2 cup ]
Cornstarch  [ 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons ]
Salt  [ 1/4 teaspoon ]
Whole Milk  [ 1 1/2 cups ]
Heavy Cream  [ 1/2 cup ]
Unsalted Butter  [ 2 tablespoons, cut into small pieces ]
Vanilla Extract  [ 1 teaspoon ]

1.   In a heavy medium pot, whisk together Brown Sugar, Cornstarch, and Salt.
2.   Whisk in Milk and Cream.
3.   Over Medium heat, whisking often, bring Mixture to a boil.
4.   Boil, whisking constantly, for 1 minute.  Remove from heat.
5.   Whisk Butter and Vanilla into Pudding.
6.   Pour Pudding into a bowl or ramekins; cover with waxed paper to keep Pudding from forming a skin.
7.   Chill Pudding until cold.  Or just eat warm.  I'm not the boss of you.  Do what you like.


Serves 4