Vanilla Pudding

I would seriously choose a dish of homemade vanilla pudding over most other desserts any day of the week.

I. Love. Pudding.

Ever since I was a little girl, I remember when we would go out to dinner to one of those restaurants where you could serve yourself at the dessert bar, I would 100% of the time, go for some kind of pudding.

My mom used make this exact vanilla pudding often when I was growing up. She would divide the servings up into wine glasses (pretty sure it was the only thing the wine glasses ever got used for), and it made the humble Vanilla Pudding seem like such a refined treat.

This recipe is so easy, I threw it together tonight while I was in the middle of preparing dinner.

Vanilla Pudding

~serves 4~

What you need:

1/3 c. sugar

2 T. cornstarch

1/8 t. salt

2 c. milk (I used 2%)

2 egg yolks lightly beaten

2 T. unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces

2 t. vanilla extract

What you do:

1. In a medium saucepan, mix together sugar cornstarch and salt. Gradually whisk in milk. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

2. Place the egg yolks in a medium bowl. After the milk mixture comes to a boil, gradually add about half the milk mixture to the bowl with the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Then add the egg yolk/milk mix back to the saucepan. Place back on the heat and cook for about another minute, stirring constantly. 

3. Off the heat, add in the butter and vanilla, stir until the butter is melted and completely incorporated into the pudding. Divide into serving dishes (optional), chill (also optional, it's also pretty darn good warm).