Self Assesment: Pudding

So, I am not good at a lot of things. Some of which include taking photos (the physical act of taking my camera/phone out) and keeping a disciplined regimen for anything aside from going to my job daily. This may help to explain my infrequency of blog postings. However, my inspiration for writing anything stems from something I am actually good at: experimenting with confidence. That sounds incredibly annoying, but I'm trying to be positive. It's 2010 dude!

This all brings me to caramel pudding. I was aimlessly snacking on an amaretti cookie the other day at work - likely a remnant of a holiday gift basket - and thought, this would be delicious on pudding. I had some friends round last night for dinner and decided to experiment on them. I have made pudding once (butterscotch) before which was for no less than 30 people, and while it had everyone licking their plates and asking for a recipe, I didn't have a recipe to share. Add that to the list: writing down recipes. Here's to turning over a new stone...

Caramel Pudding
serves 8

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 cups organic heavy cream
3 1/4 cups organic whole milk
3 large best quality (local, humane, whatever)egg yolks
healthy pinch sea salt (1/4 tsp or more)
vanilla extract
3 tbs cornstarch
1-2 tbs agave syrup
16 small amaretti cookies, crushed


Start off with the sugar and water and a medium, heavy bottomed saucepan. Bring it to simmer/boil and let it bubble up. You want to let it do it's thing for about 5 minutes, swirling the pan a little but not stirring. If sugar crystals form on the sides of the pot you can wash them down with a pastry brush dipped in cold water. But really, I find this mostly unnecessary and how many people have pastry brushes? Keep your eye on the caramel-to-be and watch it go from from a light amber brown to something darker and richer. Also, use your instincts and smell it. Once mine started to smell like toasted marshmallows, I took it off the heat and whisked in a cup of heavy cream. Keep whisking away and put back on the stove over low/med heat. Whisk in 3 cups of milk. Meanwhile, whisk the cornstarch and 1/4 milk in a separate bowl and the yolks, salt, and vanilla in another bowl. Stir cornstarch mixture into caramel and keep whisking. It will thicken very quickly. Take about a 1/4 cup of the caramel mixture and slowly combine it with the yolks. Then carefully add the yolk mix back into the caramel. Whisk and stir for another minute or so. Pour into a clean bowl or little cups, cover surface with plastic wrap to prevent a skin, and pop in the fridge for a few hours to chill and set.

To serve, whisk the shit out of the remaining cup of heavy cream until it turns in whipped cream (magic!) and fold in some agave syrup to taste. Top servings of pudding with whipped cream and crushed up amaretti cookies.