Easy Vanilla Pudding

A guest post by 10-year-old Abby:

Unlike most people, lunch and breakfast is not when I really feel a need to eat desperately. The part of the day when I am ready to feast is after school. I know that sounds weird, but it is 100% true. (You can ask my mom). After school is when I like to have a big bowl of pasta, leftover chicken pot pie, or even a slice of pizza.  The best after school snacks are by far when my mom has been testing a recipe during the day, and is using me as her little tester. She likes this testing system and so do I. 🙂 An example was a nice bowl of vanilla pudding sitting at the table waiting for me recently. I had never tried vanilla pudding before (trust me, I had DEFINITELY tried chocolate pudding and loved it) but it was soooooooooo good!!! It might have been even better than chocolate pudding if you can imagine. (!) I highly recommend this recipe, but there is only one catch. If you make a batch, eat it quickly because, trust me, if other people discover the pudding it will be gone in less than a second. That means you, Phoebe!!

-Abby ♥

And now for the boring part:

Easy Vanilla Pudding
Based on a recipe my mom edited at Real Simple.

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

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 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. Refrigerate until well chilled, about 1 hour, or less if your after-schooler is starving.

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19 Comments

Mary Ann

What a great post! Well done, Abby! I’m impressed. BTW, I don’t think it’s weird that you’re so hungry after school. I remember being the same way when I was growing up!

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Lecia

I could eat pudding for and with every meal! Any flavor, any kind. Perhaps it’s not a bad thing for my waistline that my boys don’t like it in any iteration. A texture thing.

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Barb

Thanks for the reminder Abby– homemade pudding is easy, not terribly unhealthy, and can be dressed up or dressed down, as the after-schooler prefers. One thing to try: vanilla pudding with crumbled cinnamon graham crackers and a couple of crushed strawberries. Goodness, that’s good stuff! Thanks for the great post.

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Jess.

When I was little, my Aunt Margaret always made a big pot of chocolate pudding and one of vanilla for special occasions. I love chocolate (and chocolate pudding, especially!), but it is hard to choose which one is best.

Kind of like Barb said, you can also make yourself an individual little banana cream pie by adding some crushed graham crackers and sliced bananas.

Pudding forever! xox

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Julie C

Yum, my vanilla-loving child will be all over this (hope she shares with the rest of us)! I will have to keep the 2 egg yolks on the ingredient down low, but that is established policy here!

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A Life From Scratch

Great guest post Abby!!! And you made me laugh about the ‘boring part.’ Whenever I’m writing a blog post and get to writing out the recipe I think the same exact thing. 😉

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Kim @ Cook With 2 Chicks

Your vanilla pudding sounds yummy Abby. It will be perfect for an after school snack (I mean the dessert part) since we too eat full meals after school. I tell my kids it a sign that they really worked their brain hard in school that day!

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Jess

Yum!! This is my go-to quick after dinner dessert. I usually do a really simple version using vanilla and corn flour or custard powder and milk but I might start doing it this way instead.

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Caroline in San Francisco

Thanks, Abby! The recipe sounds easy and delicious. Jenny and Andy, like they say,a apples do not fall far from the tree. How proud you must be of your kids!

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noreen

This recipe sounds delish! I couldn’t make it (our boys are all allergic to eggs), but it did motivate me to make a chocolate pudding for dessert last night. My boys all thank you!

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Lori

Abby- What a good writer you are! As a high school English teacher, I am very impressed by your skill–awesome job! My husband LOVES pudding, so maybe I’ll surprise him with this sweet treat.

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Kate

My 12 year old HATES milk, but loves pudding. We have a lot of pudding. (And I eat a lot of egg whites). She also boa constrictors her food in the second half of the day, starting in as soon as she walks in from school. Thanks for the recipe!

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Lindsay

Thanks for the recipe, Abby. I made some on Sunday and am tempted to make it again now that we’ve finished it all. I’m in South Africa where we’re just going into summer now, so we ate ours with fresh strawberries – delicious!

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Cheryl W.

My grandaughter cannot have anything with food dyes. Vanilla pudding in packages has color dye so I found your recipe. It was so good, we made a second recipe and added sliced bananas. Better by far than boxed pudding.

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