As loyal readers probably know, we here in Dinner: A Love Story Land love our homemade pudding. I started making it when the girls were little as an easy way to get them to “drink their milk” — the recipe calls for 2 cups of organic milk — but over the years we’ve adultified it (yes, adultified is a word…as of today) with some dare-I-say dinner-party worthy toppings. (Pudding Bar anyone?) There’s shaved chocolate and banana chip (best when the chips are a chopped so you get some texture in every bite); there’s toasted coconut and blueberry (my favorite); there’s whatever-fruit-is-in-season (winter combo of pineapple and orange sections is amazing); and finally, crushed Nilla wafers and fresh bananas, which is a nod to Magnolia’s famous banana pudding, just much easier to create. As we head into comfort-food season, I wanted to give you some options.
Vanilla Pudding with Extras
Serves 4
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoon cornstarch
2 cup organic dairy milk (2% or whole)
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
Optional toppings: chopped tropical fruit; toasted coconut and blueberries; shaved dark chocolate; fresh bananas and crushed Nilla Wafers
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 10 minutes. Do not allow it to boil.
Remove from heat and stir in the butter and vanilla. Scrape the pudding into four individual bowls. (Unless making pudding cake; in that case, just scrape into a bowl.)
Cover each bowl with plastic wrap, pressing the surfaces to make an airtight seal. Refrigerate until well chilled, about 1 hour.
This recipe was originally created in partnership with Food52 & Milklife. Photo credit: Bobbi Lin for Food 52.
Unfortunately, food52 has not been available to readers from Europe for a while – something to do with ensuring “we can best protect your data under new privacy regulations”. But man, they have been ensuring this for weeks and weeks now.
Agreed, Annette! This has been so frustrating – especially when I can’t even read content from some of my favourite blogs!
I love this recipe- been making it for ages. I recently made it and subbed a couple of tablespoons of bourbon for a couple of tablespoons of the milk. It was a good life decision.
Here’s the direct link!
As the mother of two girls (12 1/2 and almost 7) I LOVED your post on CoJ – couldn’t agree more. I’d also add to talk, talk, talk about friendships and relationships from an early age so that it’s totally normative (says the psychologist who specializes in adolescent girls 🙂 )
https://food52.com/recipes/77777-homemade-vanilla-pudding
The vanilla pudding looks so good~ and it sounds easy to make for a clumsy girl like me. Thank you for sharing the recipe! I can’t wait to try.
NOOOO!!! Can’t access Food52 in the UK. My kids would love this.
“Adultified!” I LOVE it…I create “adultified” versions of many classics. – Maria
Vanilla pudding and bananas go together so perfectly, especially if the vanilla pudding isn’t overly sweet. The sugar in the bananas beautifully enhances the flavor of the pudding and it’s just, well, perfect.
All the extras just take it to another level fab
followed recipe as given; it didn’t set up.