Homemade Vanilla Pudding

After 30 plus years of baking and making desserts from scratch I have accumulated good basic homemade recipes that I can build on in my recipe box.  Take cakes for instance. A good chocolate, white or yellow cake can be made with different frostings.  Adding nuts or pieces of candy on the frosting makes them slightly different every time you serve them.  The same applies to homemade puddings.  A good Homemade Vanilla Pudding can be eaten just so, or made into parfaits by adding fruit or nuts.   

What Kitchen Items Do I Need To Make the Homemade Vanilla Pudding?

Surprisingly, you don’t need as many kitchen items as you think to make the homemade vanilla pudding.

You will need: a heavy duty metal sauce pan, a whisk, dessert bowls, and plastic wrap.

Feel free to click on any of the links below if you need to stock up, or check out my Amazon store page for more kitchen items that will be helpful in your kitchen!

How to Make the Homemade Vanilla Pudding

 This luscious Homemade Vanilla Pudding is easy to make and delicious.   It’s made with Half and Half which gives it a smooth, creamy texture. I don’t normally keep Half and Half in the fridge.  Lucky for me I did have heavy cream, which allowed me to make my own Half and Half instead of running to the store to buy it.  To make your own Half and Half combine 3/4 cup whole milk with 1/4 cup heavy cream to make 1 cup of Half and half.  You’ll need 3 cups for the recipe.  

Tempering Eggs

When making Homemade Vanilla Pudding you will become familiar with “tempering eggs” into the pudding .  All that means is your going to add 1 cup of hot pudding into the slightly beaten egg yolks and gently stir the two together before returning the mixture back into the pan.  Why do we temper the eggs ?  We want to slowly bring the temperature of the egg yolks up with the hot pudding.  If you didn’t temper the yolks, you would have scrambled eggs in your pudding.   

We’re going to make this delicious homemade pudding together so let’s gather the ingredients. 

Homemade Vanilla Pudding Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
• 3 cups half and half (you can also use whole milk or light cream)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 4 egg yolks, beaten slightly
• 1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 1/4 Teaspoon salt

We start the recipe by combining the sugar and cornstarch in a heavy duty metal saucepan. Add the half and half to the pan and place it on the stove over medium heat.  Cook and gently whisk the mixture until it thickens and boils. After it boils, whisk slowly and boil for 2 more minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.

Next we’re going to “temper the egg yolks” Remove one cup of the hot half and half mixture from the pan. Slowly add it to the beaten egg yolks while you slowly mix with a fork to fully combine them. 

Take the half and half and egg yolk mixture and slowly whisk it back into the remaining ingredients in the pan.  Don’t just pour it  back into the pan, it needs to be added back into the pan slowly while you whisk. Cook the mixture over medium heat bringing the ingredients up to a gentle boil while you whisk.   After the mixture boils, reduce the heat and whisk slowly and boil for an additional 2 minutes more. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter, salt and vanilla.

Pour the pudding into four dessert dishes. Cover the top surface of the puddings with plastic wrap so the wrap is touching the surface of the pudding. The plastic wrap will prevent a film from forming on the pudding top as it cools. Let the pudding cool on the counter for 45 minutes before putting it into the refrigerator for up to one day.

My son said this creamy cool treat was just as satisfying as eating ice cream, he loved it!  There’s no need to buy store bought vanilla pudding with this delicious homemade recipe in your recipe box.  Homemade Vanilla Pudding, it’s “What’s For Dessert”?! And it’s DELICIOUS.

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Homemade Vanilla Pudding

A delicious homemade vanilla pudding recipes made with staples from you kitchen.

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: homemade vanilla pudding, vanilla pudding

Servings: 4

Author: Mary Malone

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
• 3 cups Half and Half (you can also use whole milk or light cream
• 1 cup white sugar
• 4 egg yolks, lightly beaten
• 1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 1/4 Teaspoon salt

Instructions

• Combine the sugar and corn starch in a heavy duty metal medium size saucepan. Add the half and half to the pan and place it on the stove over medium heat. Cook and gently stir the mixture with a whisk until it thickens and comes to a boil. After the mixture has thickened. After it boils, whisk slowly and boil for two more minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.
• Remove one cup of the thickened mixture from the pan. Slowly add it to the egg yolks while you stir slowly to combine them. Take the mixture you just made with the egg yolks and the one cup of ingredients from the pan and slowly whisk it back into the ingredients in the pan. Don't add the mixture all at once back into the pan, it needs to be added gradually while you whisk.

  Place the pan back on the stove over medium heat. Bring the ingredients up to a gentle boil, reduce the heat cook and whisk slowly for 2 more minutes.

  Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter, salt and vanilla. Pour the pudding into dessert dishes and cover the surface of the pudding with plastic wrap so it's touching the top of the pudding. The plastic wrap will prevent a film from forming on the top of the pudding as it cools. Let the pudding cool on the counter 45 minutes before refrigerating for one day.

Did you make this recipe?I'd love to see your pictures on Instagram! Mention @bunnyswarmoven or tag #bunnyswarmoven!

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