Author Notes
Though I love the flavor of butterscotch--and toffee and caramel, and brown sugar--I tend to find butterscotch pudding cloyingly sweet. On the other hand, a good plain vanilla pudding gets me every time. Thus, this recipe: the butterscotch flavor sits on the bottom. It's very intense and sugary but is balanced out by a not-too-sweet vanilla pudding on top. I like to flavor the butterscotch with honey and enrich the cornstarch-thickened pudding with egg yolks. —Cara Eisenpress
Ingredients
- Butterscotch-Bottomed Pudding
-
2 cups
Milk
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1/4 cup
granulated sugar
-
2 tablespoons
brown sugar
-
2 1/2 tablespoons
cornstarch
-
1/4 teaspoon
salt
-
1 teaspoon
vanilla extract
-
2
egg yolks
-
1/2 cup
Honey-Butterscotch Sauce (recipe follows)
- For the Honey-Butterscotch Sauce
-
1/4 cup
butter
-
1/3 cup
brown sugar
-
2 tablespoons
honey
-
1/2 cup
heavy cream
-
1 pinch
salt
-
1 teaspoon
vanilla
Directions
- Butterscotch-Bottomed Pudding
-
In a small bowl, stir together the egg yolks and the vanilla. Set aside.
-
Spoon the Honey-Butterscotch Sauce into the bottom of four custard ramekins, wine glasses, or regular old drinking glasses. Keep them near you on the counter.
-
Combine the cornstarch, sugar, salt, and about 1/2 cup of milk in a saucepan. Whisk until all lumps are gone, then add the rest of the milk. Stirring constantly but mellowly over medium heat until the mixture thickens. Lower the heat and keep stirring until the pudding begins to simmer around the edges. When it does, leave it simmering for another minute without touching it.
-
Then scoop up about a cup of the thickened pudding and add it, a little at a time, to the egg yolk/vanilla mixture, stirring constantly but still pretty gently. Remove the pudding from the heat, and slowly pour the egg-pudding mixture back into the pan, gently folding it in.
-
Divide the pudding equally among the custard cups, on top of the butterscotch sauce. Serve warm or refrigerate until dessert time.
- For the Honey-Butterscotch Sauce
-
Combine the butter, brown sugar, honey, salt, and cream in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil slowly, stirring constantly, then boil for 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly and making sure the mixture doesn't boil over. Remove from the heat and whisk in the vanilla.
I'm the founder, editor, and head chef at the blog Big Girls, Small Kitchen (www.biggirlssmallkitchen.com), a site dedicated to easy-to-execute recipes and stories from a quarter-life kitchen. I'm also the author of In the Small Kitchen published in 2011.
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