Butterscotch pudding is a simple dessert made with milk, butter, brown sugar and eggs. It has the familiar butterscotch flavour and a soft, creamy texture, and it can be served warm or chilled.
September 19 is National Butterscotch Pudding Day, a food celebration observed in the United States. And if there is a day dedicated to a particular dessert, you might as well make it at home.
Butterscotch Pudding
Serves: 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Chilling time: 2 hours
Ingredients
4 egg yolks
½ cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons cornflour
¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
How to make it
Whisk the dry ingredients.
In a medium saucepan, whisk together the brown sugar, cornflour and salt.
Add the milk gradually.
Slowly whisk in the milk until the mixture is smooth and there are no visible lumps.
Add the egg yolks.
Whisk the egg yolks in a separate bowl. Add a little of the warm milk mixture to the yolks while whisking continuously. This gently raises their temperature before they go into the saucepan.
Cook until thickened.
Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until the pudding thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Do not let it boil aggressively.
Finish with butter and vanilla.
Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla until completely incorporated.
Chill.
Divide the pudding between four small serving dishes. Press a piece of cling film directly onto the surface of each pudding to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate for at least two hours.
Serve.
Serve chilled. You can eat it as it is, or add a little whipped cream, chopped toasted nuts or a small drizzle of butterscotch sauce.
A few things to know
The brown sugar is doing most of the flavour work here, so choose one with a good molasses flavour rather than relying on white sugar alone. Butterscotch and caramel are related, but they are not quite the same thing: butterscotch traditionally gets its characteristic flavour from butter and brown sugar, while caramel is generally made by cooking sugar until it browns.
If you cannot find brown sugar, you can use ordinary granulated sugar with a little molasses or treacle, although the flavour will not be exactly the same. Evaporated milk can also replace some of the whole milk if you want a richer pudding.
And do not rush the saucepan. The pudding needs enough heat to thicken but not so much that the egg yolks scramble. Keep whisking and take it off the heat once it has reached the right consistency.