Homemade Vanilla Pudding

Name: Homemade Vanilla Pudding
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 10 min
Ingredients: 3 cups milk; 1/2 cup sugar; 1/3 cup cornstarch; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1 tablespoon butter (optional); 2 tsp. vanilla extract

Ronnie Fein • Jan 2, 2013 (Updated: Aug 20, 2019)Comment Jump to Recipe

Homemade Vanilla Pudding

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 5

Total Time 10

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Servings

Ingredients

3 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter optional
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions

Heat 2-1/2 cups of milk until bubbles appear around the edges of the pan. In the meantime, sift the sugar, cornstarch and salt together into a bowl. Add the remaining 1/2 cup milk and mix ingredients until smooth. Add the heated milk, blend thoroughly with a whisk and return the mixture to the pan. Cook over low-medium heat, stirring frequently, until the pudding is smooth and thick (2-3 minutes). Let cool slightly. Stir in the butter, if using and the vanilla extract. Spoon into dessert dishes. Chill and serve.

Category: Recipes

Holidays: HanukkahShavuot

Diets: DairyGluten FreeHealthy

Styles: Kid-Friendly

About Ronnie Fein

Ronnie Fein gave up a fast-track, high-pay job as an associate at a major Wall
Street law firm to become a freelance food and lifestyle writer. She never looked
back, no regrets. Over the years she has written for the food sections of daily
newspapers including Newsday, The Connecticut Post, Stamford Advocate and
Greenwich Time, and for numerous publications including the New Jewish Voice,
Connecticut Bride, Connecticut Magazine, Jewish Woman Magazine, Westport
and Greenwich Magazines, Consumer’s Digest, New Canaan Advertiser and
others. She writes for on-line sites including The Jewish Week and JoyofKosher.
She has her own food blog, called Kitchen Vignettes, at www.ronniefein.com and
has been a guest blogger at Kveller.com, Koshereye.com,
ThisAmericanBite.com, KosherLikeMe.com, BeyondBubbe.com and
Culinate.com.
Ronnie is the author of four cookbooks: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Cooking
Basics, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to American Cooking, Hip Kosher, and The
Modern Kosher Kitchen. She was also a contributing editor to The New Cook’s
Catalogue, the 25th anniversary edition of the James Beard original.
Ronnie gives cooking demonstrations for large groups and operates the Ronnie
Fein School of Creative Cooking in Stamford, Connecticut, where she lives with
her husband. She has two married daughters and five grandchildren.

Comments

Laura frankel

Mar 26, 2017 at 1:04 pm

A LIASON is a thickener for a sauce or custard. A liason can be cornstarch or eggs can act as a liason.

The recipe can be started all at the same time and stirred together. The thickener in this case is cornstarch and won’t do anything until it simmers with liquid. When you thicken with eggs, you need to gently take the mixture to 140F.
Sometimes recipes use both and then you temper hit liquid into eggs, very slowly and carefully.

Eggless custards rely on starchy thickeners to do the job.

Hope this explains liaisons.

Reply
anidjart

Mar 25, 2017 at 9:48 pm

it is usually at the end. This recipe reminds me of the way custard is made from eggs. I never understood the difference between putting all the ingredients together into the pan and cooking it until thick, or add some of the ingredients later when the milk is hot. I have made it both ways and found no difference in consistency or taste.

Reply
Ronnie Fein

Feb 3, 2013 at 10:17 pm

oooh, good catch! Have to edit that if I can figure out how. Add it with the extract. Thanks for pointing this out.

Reply
Lisa N.

Feb 3, 2013 at 5:47 pm

Where and when do you use the butter, listed in the ingredients, but not mentioned in the directions?

Reply