Vanilla Bean pudding

My friend Kelly requested a good vanilla pudding recipe. I immediately started thinking about what a good vanilla pudding would be; rich and creamy, solid but not gummy, complex in vanilla flavor, not just sweetened milk. Its a lot harder to come up with a GOOD vanilla pudding than you'd think! The Witch tried a few different variations, one version was too eggy in flavor, one wasn't sweet enough. Simple fixes resulted in a smooth, velvety, rich, sweet and vanilla is the flavor with all of its complex deliciousness. And I absolutely love the specks of vanilla bean and how they burst when you chew them releasing even more vanilla. Delicious!

Guess what else I learned while making this pudding? The Witch learned that sometimes its not a great idea to recycle plastic things. Why?? Well, allow me to explain. The little Witch sees the pudding cups at the grocery store and of course asks for them. I politely decline, telling her that mommy can make pudding that tastes a lot better than what comes in those cups. Then she says "yeah, but what about the cups? I want the plastic cups Mom." Great...but wait! Then it hits me! Just save the little plastic bowls that mandarin oranges and fruit cocktail come in. Done! "Sure sweetie, Mommy can make it in cups, no problem!"


I make the vanilla pudding. I strain the pudding to ensure its velvety smoothness. I lovingly ladle the pudding into said cups, cover and refrigerate them. We wait 4 hours before tasting them. Finally! I take a bite excited to taste my rich vanilla flavor...why does it taste like fruit? Like mandarin oranges...oh wait...this was a cup of mandarin oranges and guess what? Plastic absorbs flavors. And when plastic gets hot it releases those flavors. Right into my vanilla pudding! So, the lesson here is that unless you want fruit and odd flavors in your vanilla pudding, use glass or porcelain for your pudding. I now use tea cups and they work perfectly, and lets be honest, they look a lot better than plastic cups.

Vanilla Bean Pudding
makes 8 (1/2 cup) servings
1/2 c + 2T sugar
1/4 c corn starch
3 cups 2% milk
1 cup heavy cream
2 egg yolks
2 vanilla beans, seeds scraped out
1 t vanilla extract
pinch salt

In a heavy bottom pan add 1/2 c sugar, cornstarch and the salt. Whisk well together to break up starch.

Over medium high heat add the milk and cream along with the scraped vanilla seeds AND the pods, whisking well to dissolve sugar and cornstarch. Bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes whisking often to avoid hot spots and burning.

Whisk up the egg yolks with remaining 2 T sugar. Add 1 cup of hot pudding to the yolk, whisk well, quickly. Add the yolk mixture to the boiling pudding whisking to incorporate. Bring back to the boil and cook for 2 minutes longer, whisking to avoid scorch spots.

Turn heat off. Add the vanilla extract, stirring well.

Pour cooked pudding through a fine mesh sieve to strain out vanilla pods as well as any lumps or egg pieces. This will ensure a velvety smooth pudding. Pour strained pudding into tea cups and cover with plastic to avoid a skin from forming. Refrigerate for 24 hours before serving.

I just love all those vanilla beans!

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 228.1
Total Fat 13.4 g
Saturated Fat 8.2 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.6 g
Monounsaturated Fat 3.9 g
Cholesterol 73.7 mg
Sodium 69.2 mg
Potassium 24.9 mg
Total Carbohydrate 23.7 g
Dietary Fiber 0.0 g
Sugars 19.3 g
Protein 4.0 g