#27 Vanilla Pudding

I love pudding...well, let me re-phase that...I love warm chocolate pudding. One of my favorite treats is that cook and serve chocolate pudding that you make from the box. I even like the skin:) But it must be warm...or forget it! So I was excited to see homemade pudding recipes in the book. I decided to start with vanilla to make good use of my awesome vanilla beans.

Vanilla Pudding

4 cups whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 vanilla bean or 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup cornstarch

1. Combine 3 cups of the milk with the sugar and salt in a heavy bottomed medium saucepan and set over medium heat. If using, scrape seeds from the vanilla bean and put in milk...toss the whole bean in too. Heat until steaming, stirring frequently.

2. In a small bowl combine cornstarch and remaining cup of milk. Stir well until mixture is fairly lump free. Take out vanilla bean, rinse and add to your homemade vanilla extract.

3. Raise the heat to medium high and add cornstarch mixture and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until mixture just starts to bubble. Reduce heat to low and stir continuously until mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon, 5-7 minutes.

4. If you are using vanilla extract instead of a bean, now is the time to add it. Pudding will thicken as it chills. Pour into individual dishes and chill before serving...unless you are like me and you like warm pudding:) If you do not like the skin, press plastic wrap against the surface while it chills.
You can store in the fridge, in individual covered containers, for 2-3 days.

Most of my kids liked it....my hubby and I liked it...but as I said before...chocolate is my fave! So I can't wait to try that! I definitely will try to make pudding homemade from now on....it is not really any more difficult, than the box stuff and I actually think it might be faster. The vanilla is for sure tastier, with a more authentic vanilla flavor!