One of my favorite food blogs, The Bitten Word, held an October challenge that I joined. Zack and Clay’s blog focuses on the recipes in food magazines- the good, the bad and the ugly; and sharing what they tried with their readers. For their challenge, they wanted to try cooking through EVERY recipe in EVERY food magazine in October. The ‘Super Awesome Cover-to-Cover Recipe Challenge’ and my recipe came from Saveur- who in October, had a collection of the 150 best recipes. Mine was Butterscotch Pudding.
When I think of butterscotch pudding, all I think of are butterscotch chips, and all I can hope for, is for it to taste like something caramelly with bourbon. Unfortunately, this recipe has nothing like that. I will say that it is incredibly easy- you heat the cream and flavorings together, add gelatin and pour over butterscotch chips, then blender it into a smooth pudding that sets in the fridge. The downsides: the butterscotch flavor is based on butterscotch chips, that make the back of my throat feel scratchy with sugar. Also, the amount of gelatin in the recipe should be halved at least; the final texture was akin to hard Jello. It also calls for a caramel sauce to be poured over the top, which I skipped as the pudding is certainly sweet enough. The one thing I definitely wouldn’t change? The sea salt on top.
Butterscotch Pudding
Serves 8
2 tbsp. milk
1 tbsp. powdered gelatin
10 oz. high-quality butterscotch chips, such as Guittard
2 tbsp. bourbon
4 cups heavy cream
3 tbsp. light brown sugar
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. kosher salt
½ vanilla bean, seeds scraped and reserved
FOR THE CARAMEL SAUCE
⅔ cup sugar
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed
3 tbsp. light corn syrup
2 ½ cups heavy cream
1 tsp. kosher salt
Flaked sea salt, to taste
1. Make the pudding: Combine milk, gelatin, and 1 tbsp. water in a bowl; let sit to soften gelatin, about 5 minutes. Place butterscotch and bourbon in a blender; set aside.
2. Boil cream, both sugars, salt, and vanilla seeds in a 2-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, add gelatin mixture, and stir until gelatin dissolves.
3. Pour into blender, let sit for 5 minutes, and purée until smooth. Divide among eight 6-oz. serving glasses. Chill until set, about 4 hours.
4. Make the caramel sauce: Heat sugar, butter, and corn syrup in a 4-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat; cook, without stirring, until mixture turns dark amber. Meanwhile, boil cream and kosher salt in a 2-qt. saucepan. Pour into caramel; cook, stirring, until smooth. Let cool; divide sauce among set pudding cups. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt before serving.
