The Best Sand Pudding Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How to make pudding better? ›

Thickening the Pudding

Using eggs: Eggs add richness to puddings, whether or not the recipe includes additional thickeners. To add eggs to a hot liquid, you need to "temper" them (see Tempering Eggs below) so they don't end up as scrambled eggs. Rice and tapioca also act as thickeners.

Strain:Use a fine-mesh sieve to strain out the undesired lumps for a silky and creamy end result. This should take you a total of 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the quantity you've cooked. Reheat and Stir:Uneven cooking is another culprit behind lumpy pudding.

After you have steamed and cooled your pudding, replace the foil with a freshly buttered piece to keep it moist and store in a cool, dark place, or the fridge, until you are ready to reheat it on Christmas day.

Do not cover when the pudding is still hot, but should be covered when the pudding has cooled. This is to avoid the presence of steam which makes the pudding runny.

I like to use both cornstarch and egg yolks in my pudding recipe. Both act as thickeners, but the egg yolks make it super rich while I find that the cornstarch helps to stabilize it a bit. I've made puddings without cornstarch in them and they're a bit more unpredictable. Think of the cornstarch as pudding insurance.

The Spoon Test

It should coat the back of the spoon, and if you use your finger do draw a line through the pudding the line should hold its shape (excess pudding from the spoon shouldn't flow back over the line). See the image above for an illustration of what thickened vanilla pudding looks like.

Once the pudding cooled and the fat solidified, any bits that hadn't been thoroughly broken down came across as grainy on the tongue. Vigorously whisking the pudding—or any custard with a generous amount of butter—breaks down the fat into tiny droplets that are too small to detect once the mixture cools.

The secret to getting a smooth and creamy pudding that doesn't have any lumps is a lot of whisking. You want to whisk your ingredients throughout the entire process of making your pudding. First add all of the dry ingredients to your saucepan and whisk them well to break up any clumps.

What Ingredient Makes Pudding Thicken? In this recipe, the flour makes the pudding thicken. (Most recipes use cornstarch, which does give a smoother result. But white flour works well as a substitute.)

How do you thicken homemade pudding that didn't set? ›

If your liquid amounts to 4 cups, take half cup of that liquid (COLD) and mix with 4 tbs cornstarch in a small container. If you mix it with warm liquid it will be lumpy. Then as the pudding cooks, you whisk in the cornstarch mix, and it will thicken up when the pudding comes to a boil.

Cornstarch: Three tablespoons of cornstarch thickens the vanilla pudding.

Fruit is among the best ingredients you should add to pudding for an aesthetically alluring dessert. Chocolate pudding with berries such as fresh blueberries or raspberries not only tastes good but looks beautiful.

Add more flavor

A teaspoon of vanilla extract can add richness to any pudding. A bit of espresso powder can make chocolate puddings taste more chocolaty—add more for a mocha flavor. You can stir in a bit of your favorite liqueur too.