I love pudding! Just a spoonful of sugar pudding helps the medicine go down, or anything else that ails you! It is the epitome of comfort food.
This past week I had an unexpected visit from my terrific niece from New York who will be graduating this spring from college.
It seems like yesterday that we got the call that she was born. My sister and I filled the car with all the food we had been cooking and baking while we were nervously awaiting the news of my sister-in-law’s long labor.
With the food and our father in tow we headed for NYC to greet our new niece named for our beloved mother, Lily.
I was so excited to have Lily at our home one last time before we head out to the west coast the end of June.
Lily made her first appearance here at 10 months old when we celebrated my younger son’s Bar-Mitzvah with a party in our backyard under tents on a beautiful spring afternoon/evening in May.
From then on she was with us for every Thanksgiving, and for many summers when she was younger she would come and spend a week with us.
I got to experience the joys of having a little girl around…fixing her hair, picking out outfits with her for her to wear, and allowing her to have her fingernails painted blue which was her favorite color one summer.
Trips to the bookstore for storytelling time, hours at the community pool nearby, playing with the neighborhood kids, fixing her favorite foods, and trips to Jimmie Cone ice cream for a vanilla cone with all the rainbow sprinkles it could hold, are just a few of my memories of her visits.
And now here she is all grown up, beautiful and bright and on her way to find her place in the world.
She stayed with us for a couple of days while she attended some meetings in DC.
My sister came in for the occasion and for dessert the first evening I made this Bourbon Butterscotch Pudding which appears in the March issue of Bon Appetit.
According to Bon Appetit… this complexly flavored pudding owes its smooth texture to a quick spin in the blender.
I found this to be a great time to use my immersion blender, and it worked beautifully, saving me some extra cleanup time.
Here is the recipe…
Bourbon-Butterscotch Pudding ( 8 servings)
(Bon Appetit, March, 2013)
¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
¾ cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 and ½ cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon bourbon or Scotch
½ teaspoon kosher salt
6 large egg yolks
¼ cup cornstarch
3 tablespoons sugar
Creme fraiche and crushed gingersnap cookies (for serving: optional)
(Note: I used just a dollop of freshly whipped cream)
eight 6-oz ramekins or bowls
For a video demonstration of this recipe click here to see this from Bon Appetite.