One-Pot Wonders

Tapioca Pudding

February 24, 2011
4
4 Ratings
  • Serves 4 to 6
Author Notes

Just as the package says, comforting when served warm and soothing when served chilled. While it may not be essential it is classic and a simple bowl of this stuff can take your mind racing, high speed, back to your childhood, a rainy fall day or a hot summer night on the porch swing. However you choose to serve it it is oddly addicting. It can linger like the memory of your first real kiss, and the variations are endless so it can be as torrid as make-up sex. - thirschfeld

thirschfeld

Test Kitchen Notes

As a tapioca rookie, I appreciated thirschfeld’s specific direction on taking the pudding mixture to just the right level of boil so it wouldn’t break. Besides this crucial step, the recipe is a cinch. Basically, you combine most of the ingredients in a sauce pan, let them sit before and after a gentle boil, and voila -- a lovely, ethereal pudding that you can't seem to get enough of. —Midge

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Ingredients
  • 1/3 cup honey, clover or wildflower
  • 3 tablespoons instant tapioca
  • 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar
  • 2 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoons minced almonds
  • 1/16 heaping teaspoons fresh grated nutmeg
Directions
  1. Place the honey, sugar, tapioca, egg, nutmeg and the milk into a sauce pan. Let the pan set for 30 minutes.
  2. Over medium heat and while stirring, bring the pudding to a soft boil. I made this three times and every time I brought it to a full boil it broke. A soft boil is when just the outside edges of the liquid begin to roil and creep from the side of the pan toward the center of the pan by about a 1/2 inch.
  3. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Let the pudding rest for twenty minutes. Serve warm with crushed almonds on top or put it in the fridge till well chilled. Wait to garnish with the almonds until you serve it.
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11 Reviews

S B. March 14, 2015
Wanted to love it, but found the honey cloyingly overpowered the vanilla sweet cream flavor of a traditional tapioca pudding. But always fun to try new ideas.
Vobmcm April 20, 2012
This honey-laden pudding is memorable and delicious. It has become one of my signature dishes...
Arathi March 11, 2011
After a rough day at work that featured painkillers and muscle relaxants, I read the EP comments and decided this is what I wanted for dinner last night! I made it while making dinner for my BF, shoved a few brussels sprouts into my mouth to satisfy his demands for "nutrition", and ate it under his stern gaze. It was yummy, and just what I needed, and so quick. Thanks for the recipe!
AntoniaJames March 1, 2011
This looks so good. I really like the minced almonds on top. Nothing like a few nut tidbits to perk up a pudding. Definitely going to make this one. ;o)
mrslarkin February 24, 2011
hehehe. I like your picture.
thirschfeld February 24, 2011
I kinda liked it too. Strangely the bowl and spoon look like they are actually part of the cover.
mrslarkin February 24, 2011
and the Veuve Clicquot ribbon is a nice touch too. my bookmarks are usually old receipts and ripped up post it notes. I wish more cookbooks had those built-in ribbon thingees.
thirschfeld February 24, 2011
I like the ribbon thingies too. I found a receipt from a grocery store that doesn't exist anymore in one of my books and the prices were unbelievably low. Ripped up post it notes are my favorite. It starts out a whole note and then as you find more recipes the note becomes smaller and smaller.
Amanda H. March 1, 2011
Loving all the marked pages. And funny about the spoon and ribbon. The first cover design had a gold ribbon wrapped around a fork.
vegetarianirvana February 24, 2011
With the T Sex come the nursery kids and some more pudding!
thirschfeld February 24, 2011
so pudding is the circle of life is what you are telling me