Butterscotch Pudding

Above are pictures of some of the vegetables we received from our friend's (Jeff and Kathy's) farm share while they have been away.

This morning I woke up with the idea that I was going to be working on my Daring Baker's challenge.  I did part of it, and then found out that my dad and brother were going to be heading down to Mount Desert Island to bike for the afternoon.  Not wanting to miss an opportunity to get exercise that involved something other than staring at the bottom of a pool for an hour, I heartily agreed to go.  Of course this meant that I wouldn't be finishing my Daring Baker's work until we got back.  Well, we went for the bike ride, came back, and I didn't really want to work on the challenge, for many reasons, to be discussed at a later date.

Anyways, I knew I just had to have something to post today, it being three days since my last post.  Then I stumbled upon a butterscotch pudding recipe on David Lebovitz's blog, which I just happened to have all of the ingredients for.  It was very easy to make, though a bit different from my normal pudding recipe, which calls for 5 egg yolks.  This one calls for just two eggs, which makes it fairly thin when done, and a very long chilling period to thicken it up a good bit.  The wonderful thing about this recipe is, because there are fewer eggs, the eggs are less likely to cook into little pieces in the pudding that must be strained out.  Actually, this pudding was perfectly lump-free when it got done. 

I really enjoyed this pudding, and I believe you probably will as well.  Its butterscotch flavor isn't maybe what you would expect; more like a nice brown sugar and butter flavor.  This is probably (actually I'm quite sure) because I used light brown sugar.  One thing I might add is that this pudding, after it is chilled just a few minutes, is good to be placed in a shallow bowl in the freezer for a while.  When it is partly frozen it tastes absolutely divine! The recipe is below:

Butterscotch Pudding
From davidlebovitz.com
4-6 servings
Adapted from Ripe For Dessert (HarperCollins)

4 tablespoons (60g) butter, salted or unsalted
1 cup (180g) packed dark brown or cassonade sugar (I used light brown, giving it a less pronounced, but still very good flavor)
3/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2½ (625ml) cups whole milk
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons whiskey(I added a little rum, which was another recommendation given)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan. Add the dark brown sugar and salt, then stir until the sugar is well-moistened. Remove from heat.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch with about 1/4 cup (60ml) of the milk until smooth (there should be no visible pills of cornstarch), then whisk in the eggs.
3. Gradually pour the remaining milk into the melted brown sugar, whisking constantly, then whisk in the cornstarch mixture as well.
4. Return the pan to the heat and bring the mixture to a boil, whisking frequently. Once it begins to bubble, reduce the heat to a low simmer and continue to cook for one minute, whisking non-stop, until the pudding thickens to the consistency of hot fudge sauce.
5. Remove from heat and stir in the whiskey and vanilla. If slightly-curdled looking, blend as indicated above.
6. Pour into 4-6 serving glasses or custard cups and chill thoroughly, at least four hours, before serving.