This fast, easy homemade pudding is delicious on its own. But it’s also the base for all kinds of desserts:
- cream pies – add sliced bananas or other fruit and pour into a baked pie shell
- Boston cream pie – which is actually vanilla cake with pudding instead of frosting between the layers, and chocolate on top
- You can even turn it into chocolate pudding by increasing the sugar and adding unsweetened chocolate
2/3 c sugar
1/4 c cornstarch
1/4 t salt
2 1/2 c whole milk
5 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 t vanilla
2-3 T butter, cut into small pieces
Combine dry ingredients in a saucepan set over medium heat, then slowly whisk in the milk, followed by the egg yolks and vanilla.
Whisk CONSTANTLY for several minutes over medium heat. The mixture will be thin and liquid-y, until all of a sudden … it isn’t. Voila! It becomes pudding consistency.
Before the switch happens, but after the pudding has become hot to the touch, remove the pot from heat and scrape the corners with a rubber spatula. Add the butter, then return to heat and continue whisking until that magical switch happens.
At that point you can pour the pudding into a shell to make a pie, or into a storage container if you just want it as pudding.