While she definitely thinks you should start with whatever recipe sticks out to you from her newest book, “Bake Anything,” Erin Jeanne McDowell also wants to nudge you towards her pudding recipe. She says pudding is underrated to Americans, relegated to the same category as shelf-stable Snack Packs instead of the delicious homemade custard that it is.
If you’ve never made pudding without the help of a powdered mix before, now is your time to shine, and it’s an easy one to start. Check the end of the recipe for riffs and flavors. In her newest building block cookbook, “Bake Anything,” Erin also introduces a ton of ways to bake with pudding, from buttercreams to poke cakes to frozen pudding pops to cream pies.
VANILLA PUDDING
150 g / 3/4 cup granulated sugar
28 g / 1/4 cup cornstarch
2 g / 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
690 g / 3 cups whole milk
118 g / 1/2 cup heavy cream
85 g / 4 large egg yolks
10 g / 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
14 g / 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
MAKES: 3 3/4 cups pudding (about 6 servings)
DIFFICULTY: Easy
- Gather six glasses or serving dishes and place them on a small baking sheet. Make enough room in your fridge so the baking sheet will fit comfortably.
- In a small bowl, whisk the sugar, cornstarch, and salt to combine. In a medium pot, whisk the milk, cream, and egg yolks until well combined. Whisk the sugar/cornstarch mixture into the pot until well combined.
- Heat the mixture over medium heat, whisking gently and constantly while it heats. As it continues to thicken, it can be helpful to switch to a silicone spatula to more easily keep the mixture in motion and be sure there isn’t pudding thickening more in the base or edges of the pot.
- Continue to cook, stirring the base and sides constantly, until the mixture comes to “first boil”— small bubbles may appear around the edge of the pot but continue to cook until a large bubble (or a few) appear in the very center of the pot, 7 to 10 minutes. The pudding should be thick and creamy.
- Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the vanilla and butter, mixing until the butter is fully melted and incorporated. Strain the pudding through a fine-mesh sieve into a large liquid measuring cup or heat-safe bowl.
- Spoon, ladle, or pour the mixture into the prepared glasses or serving dishes. If you’re anti– pudding skin, place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the puddings to prevent a skin from forming (if you secretly love pudding skin like a select few of us out there, skip this step and loosely cover the containers instead).
- Chill the pudding until it’s fully cooled and even thicker, at least 2 hours (and up to overnight).
VARIATIONS
Chocolate Pudding In step 2, whisk 2 g /1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder and 16 g / 3 tablespoons cocoa powder into the sugar and cornstarch mixture.
In step 5, mix in 113 g / 4 ounces finely chopped chocolate along with the vanilla and butter until the butter is fully melted. You can use dark or semisweet chocolate— even milk chocolate here (which will result in a sweeter pudding).
Lemon Pudding Makes 800 ml / 3 1/3 cups pudding
Reduce the milk to 518 g / 2 1/4 cups. Eliminate the vanilla. Increase the cornstarch to 37 g / 1/3 cup. In step 2, whisk 173 g / 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice into the sugar and cornstarch mixture, then add that mixture into the pot and whisk vigorously to combine.
If desired, you can add a few drops of yellow food coloring to augment the color of the pudding.
Pistachio Pudding Reduce the milk to 575 g / 2 1/2 cups. Before starting to make the pudding, use a blender to combine the milk, cream, sugar, salt, and 180 g / 1 1/2 cups raw, shelled pistachios (blanched nuts will give the prettiest natural green color but aren’t required).
Butterscotch Pudding Replace the granulated sugar with 160 g / 3/4 cup dark brown sugar. Use your hands to combine the brown sugar and cornstarch— this distributes it better than using a whisk alone.
Cheesecake Pudding Reduce the milk to 518 g / 2 1/4 cups. Eliminate the butter. Cut 340 g / 12 ounces of cream cheese into cubes about 1 inch / 2 1/2 cm wide.
In step 5, use a whisk to gently mix in the cream cheese and 15 g / 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice into the pudding along with the vanilla extract before straining it.