Ultimate Salted Caramel Pudding (with Butterscotch Pudding Variation)

This post began as a response to repeated requests from a tenacious reader for The Best Ever Butterscotch Pudding (her words). She was impressed with Ultimate Vanilla Pudding (Perfect Stovetop Custard) and Ultimate Chocolate Pudding and wanted the same perfect results with a butterscotch flavor. She had tried a few recipes on the web but was disappointed in the results.

I began rather cavalierly with the Ultimate Vanilla Pudding recipe, substituting brown for white sugar. The pudding was pale and bland. The whole bowl went into the fridge until it spoiled, forgotten and uneaten.

Then, in what seemed like a stroke of genius, I tried caramelizing the brown sugar to give it a deeper color and flavor. It burned almost immediately. I tried again. It burned again.

I gave up and moved on to Salted Caramel Pudding instead. It tested perfectly on the first take, and we ate the entire batch within hours.

But after eating it, I felt a little guilty. Not for eating it (heavens no!), but for failing to deliver on Butterscotch Pudding as I had promised. So I traipsed around the web looking for a solution and thought I found it at Serious Eats: Butterscotch Pudding: Searching for the Perfect Recipe. What they did that was pure genius was to caramelize the sugar and then add molasses to give the pudding that distinctive butterscotch taste.

To my palate, however, the taste of molasses was too distinguishable. So instead, I added just a teaspoon of molasses and some brown sugar to the aforementioned Salted Caramel Pudding formula, and by golly, it worked. Because the recipes for  Salted Caramel Pudding and Butterscotch Pudding are similar, I give them both to you here.

How to Make Perfect Pudding

To repeat some of what I said in the Ultimate Vanilla Pudding post:

“All we are doing when we make pudding is melting sugar in milk and then thickening it with cornstarch and egg yolks. The cornstarch should be introduced before the egg yolks, although simultaneously will also work.

Without cornstarch, we can’t bring a pudding containing egg yolks anywhere near a boil. In fact, if you want to use egg yolks alone to thicken your pudding, the pudding must not exceed 165°. Otherwise, the egg yolks will curdle. Cornstarch, on the other hand, begins to thicken at 203° and needs to go to 208° for full activation. As long as sufficient cornstarch is present, even a slow simmer will not curdle the egg yolks.

Heat kills enzymes in raw egg yolks, which will otherwise break down the starch bonds and thin the custard. After adding the egg yolks, the pudding must be brought to just under a simmer (208º). I like to maintain that temperature for a minute or longer to be on the safe side.”

Ultimate Salted Caramel Pudding

This pudding is heavenly, transcendent, divine. There’s something about the contrast between deep caramel and salt that takes the taste buds on an exhilarating ride that doesn’t end until you shamelessly lick the bowl and then go looking for a second helping.

To recap, all we are doing when we make pudding is thickening sweetened milk with cornstarch and egg yolks. In this case, we add the step of caramelizing the sugar before sweetening the milk with it. Easy peasy!

NOTE   If you want a pie filling that will hold its shape, rather than this more loosely mounding pudding, increase the cornstarch to 5-6 tablespoons.

3 cups whole milk, room temperature (or 2 cups whole milk and 1 cup heavy cream)
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 large egg yolks, room temperature

¾ cup sugar

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into 12 chunks
1½ teaspoon vanilla (I love Mexican vanilla here)
½ teaspoon fine sea salt

Garnish
lightly sweetened whipped cream, optional

Burnt Caramel Sauce, optional

1. Get set up: In a large measuring cup with a pour spout, add 3 cups milk. Set milk and a silicon spatula next to the stovetop.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk egg yolks with ½ cup of the milk until well combined. Set next to the stovetop.
3. In a small bowl, whisk cornstarch with ¼ cup of the milk until smooth. Set next to the stovetop.
4. Make caramel: In a light colored (stainless steel), 3-quart saucepan, add sugar and set over medium heat. Swirl the pan as sugar begins to melt. Use a silicon spatula to move the sugar from side to side as necessary to help it melt and caramelize evenly. When the sugar melts entirely and is a medium-dark caramel color, quickly remove from heat.
5. Proceed with Pudding: Stand back and CAREFULLY stir in remaining 1 3/4  cups milk. The mixture will boil and sputter furiously. The caramel will seize into a solid sugary mass. No worries! When the mixture stops sputtering, set over medium heat, and bring to a simmer while stirring to melt the seized caramel. Scrape bottom and sides of the saucepan with a silicon (heatproof) spatula to ensure all seized caramel dissolves.
6. Stir, and then add cornstarch mixture to the pan, and bring pudding to a very slow simmer. Simmer, stirring continuously for 2 minutes to thicken. Decrease heat to medium-low so that pudding is no longer simmering.
7. Ladle ½ cup of hot pudding into egg yolk mixture, and whisk rapidly. Repeat two times.
8. Now add egg yolk mixture back to the saucepan. This tempers the eggs and helps to prevent curdling.
9. Raise heat slightly, and continue stirring pudding until it thickens to the point that it thickly coats the back of the spatula, from 2-4 minutes. Don’t boil.
10. Remove from heat and stir in butter, vanilla, and salt until butter is melted.
11. Immediately pour pudding through a single mesh strainer into a medium mixing bowl or 4-cup glass measuring cup. Alternatively, you can pour pudding directly into six, ½-cup, serving dishes. (The reason I rarely do this is that I prefer to mound the servings.)
12. Ignore what David Lebovitz says (just kidding, David!) and quickly press a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming.
13. Let cool, and then refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours.
14. To serve, spoon pudding into six, ½-cup ramekins (if you didn’t do this earlier).
15. Top each serving with a generous mound of whipped cream.
16. Serve immediately.

Makes 3 cups, or six ½-cup servings.

Ultimate Butterscotch Pudding

This pudding relies on a combination of caramelized sugar, brown sugar, and just a hint of molasses to give it a true butterscotch color and flavor. The process is the same as for Ultimate Salted Caramel Pudding, with a few minor differences: the sugar and salt amounts are decreased, the caramel is cooked to a light rather than medium caramel color, and brown sugar and molasses are added. The four ingredient changes are noted below in red text.

3 cups whole milk, room temperature (or 2 cups whole milk and 1 cup heavy cream)
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 large egg yolks, room temperature

¼ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon unsulphured molasses

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into 12 chunks
1½ teaspoon vanilla (I love Mexican vanilla here)
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

1. Proceed as in Ultimate Salted Caramel Pudding, making the following changes.
2. In Step 4, add ¼ cup sugar to the pan (rather than ¾ cup sugar) and caramelize the sugar to a light caramel hue.
3. In Step 5, add brown sugar and molasses along with the milk.
4. In Step 9, add ¼ teaspoon salt (rather than ½ teaspoon salt).

More LunaCafe Pudding Recipes 

• Ultimate Vanilla Pudding (Perfect Stove-Top Custard
• LunaCafe’s Ultimate Chocolate Pudding
• Rosalyn’s Toasted Coconut White Chocolate Dream Pie (Coconut White Chocolate Custard)

Inspiration from Around the Web

• A Cozy Kitchen: Bourbon Butterscotch Pudding with Caramel Sauce
• David Lebovitz Blog: Butterscotch Pudding Recipe
• Foodgawker Gallery: Butterscotch Pudding
• The Camp: How to Eat Pudding Mindfully
• Los Angeles Times: Eureka Butterscotch Pudding
• Portuguese Girls Cook: Salted Caramel Pudding
• Serious Eats: Butterscotch Pudding: Searching for the Perfect Recipe
• Zoe Bakes: Butterscotch Pudding with Coffee-Caramel Bananas

Copyright 2012-2017 Susan S. Bradley. All Rights Reserved.