I love when my kitchen is full of hot sugar and warm milk that turns into caramel pudding.
I love when my kitchen is full of new friends (see Jill, above) who aren’t shy about going in for a giant dollop of whipped cream on their caramel pudding.
My new friend Jill, from The Dish’s Dish is absolutely obsessed with caramel pudding. Browned and nutty cooked sugar meets whole milk and sea salt and whipped cream? Yes. Definitely obsession worthy.
I invited Jill over. I organized the simple ingredients in pretty bowls mostly so I could trick my new friend into thinking I’m super profesh… and…
we started cooking sugar. If you’ve got a new friend in the kitchen, might I suggest that you cook some sugar together? It’ll really set a happy tone for the rest of your friendship. Seriously. Bond over scalding hot sugar. It’s the best.
While the sugar cooked and browned, Jill and I patiently waited, and chatted about our mutual obsession with Mt Everest books and shows, laughed at how strange we are, and took pictures of the stove.
Once we whisked the cold milk into the hot sugar things got a little chunky… and tense. Our budding friendship was put to the test. Would the clumped up caramel dissolve? Would the milk not curdle? Oooh goodness. Jill whisked. I nervously took pictures of the electrical socket.
It worked. Everything worked. Friendship in tact. Pudding ready to be strained.
Individually wrapped caramel pudding ready to chill. We licked the spatula. We licked the bowl . It was totally the right thing to do.
Ooh! I forgot to mention Jill’s awesome boyfriend Taylor. He’s a dearheart. He filmed our caramel pudding making shenanigans. Thaaaat’s right! A little video called Bake Out with Jill and Joy…. coming soon.
But first… let’s just concentrate on the pudding…
and the whipped cream and sea salt that are about to top that pudding.
and my Mom who couldn’t resist a bowl.
and my new friend Jill who, come to find out, eats whipped cream and frozen M&Ms like… every night. Let’s just concentrate on those things while our little video is in the editing shop.
Just look at these two. Too beautiful to be true… but they are… true. It’s crazy.
Jill. Taylor. We’ve made caramel pudding. We have the video to prove it. We’re friends for life… or at last our bellies are. I’m totally coming over for whipped cream and frozen M&Ms. Trust that.
Stay tuned for Bake Out with Jill and Joy. Coming soon to… you.
Deb’s Caramel Pudding
serves 8 small servings or 4 caramel pudding lover servings
Sweet. Smooth. Will force you to forget about boring old chocolate or vanilla pudding for the rest of your days. Topped with coarse sea salt and whipped cream… you might think you’re Sherry Yard and your kitchen is Spago. You’re not Sherry Yard and your kitchen is not Spago… but for a moment… ooh yes… it will be.
4 cups whole milk
6 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
coarse sea salt and whipped cream for topping
In a small bowl, whisk 1/2 cup of the milk with the cornstarch, vanilla and salt until smooth. Set aside. In a large saucepan, combine the sugar with 6 tablespoons of water and bring to a boil. Cook over moderately high heat, undisturbed, until a deep amber caramel forms, about 8 minutes. Be sure not to stir the cooking sugar. If anything, feel free to swirl the pan around a bit. Be patient but watch the stove like a hawk as caramel changes color quickly. This is no time for multitasking. Just stand there and enjoy watching your caramel cook.
Remove from the heat. Very gradually whisk in the remaining 3 1/2 cups of milk. As you begin whisking it in, the caramel will get very dark and begin to seize with the cold milk. Not to worry… everything will work out.
Return the pot to the stove and whisk over moderate heat until the caramel has dissolved again. Once again, watch this closely as the milk will foam up quickly as it comes to a simmer. Simmer over moderately low heat until the mixture thickens just slightly and deepens in color, about 10 minutes.
Gradually whisk the cornstarch mixture into the caramel. Cook again over moderate heat, stirring, until the pudding thickens, about one minute. The pudding may look and feel pretty loose, but will thicken nicely when chilled in the fridge.
Strain the pudding fine strainer set over a large measuring cup; if you are, you can skip this and nothing terrible will happen. Scrape the pudding into eight 1/2-cup ramekins and refrigerate until chilled and set, about 2 hours.
To avoid a pudding skin press a piece of plastic wrap onto the surface of each pudding dish as it chills. Top with a generous sprinkle of coarse sea salt and a big ol’ dollop of whipped cream.
102 Responses
Jill,
I saw your recipe and it was perfect! My friends birthday is coming up and I wanted something special for her. I made a four layer cake, alternating spice and golden cake. In the spice cake, I poke holes with the round end of a wooden spoon and fill it with your caramel pudding running a spatula over it until the holes are full and a nice layer is on the cake. I stack them one at a time, prefilled. In the golden layer I add my pumpkin cheesecake, your caramel pudding is oh so good in the cake itself, but to be combined with pumpkin cheesecake is like heaven. I iced the outside and decorated with pecans and such. I had planned to simply stencil the top with a sugar or spice, but after tasting your whipped cream, I decided to ice the cake, make your whipped cream, add a bit of baileys to it and put very large spoonfulls of it atop the cake. It was not only elegant and gorgeous, but there were comments such as the best cake I’ve ever made, how much I had outdone myself and how no one had every made anything like it. Thank you for making my friends birthday so special!!! You are wonderful! So much can be done with this recipe over the holidays! Should I begin with caramel martinis?!?!
hey joy!
caramel puddings are in the fridge, can’t wait to eat them! everything worked pretty good. but i think next time i should give the caramel a little more time..it’s a bit too bright i guess.
thanks for the wonderful video, i really enjoyed watching it! (;
greetings from germany,
janeti
(Ps: excuse me for my bad english d: )
Hey there –
We’ve tried the caramel pudding and it’s come out EXCELLENT – your recipe is rad. I’m just wondering – awhile back I had a delicious salted caramel pudding at a restaurant in Oakland called Flora. It was heady. But it was also really different from yours – it wasn’t really a pudding – it had more the consistency of a soft cookie dough without the chocolate chips. Maybe even a fudge. It was very smooth but very very dense. I conjectured that perhaps it was substituting a whole lot of egg yolk instead of corn starch.
Could you maybe suggest a change in the recipe that would have it come out that way in particular, and if it IS egg yolks, how many and what the difference in the cooking process would be?
I’d be grateful.
Just wanted to thank you for a great recipe!!!! Delicious!! Caramel is very intimidating to me, but your recipe worked so wonderfully it really made it very easy!!!
mmm…but now my computer is sticky! Pudding was a little pale, and didn’t have a deep caramel flavor, but I suspect I didn’t let the sugar get deep enough amber…i just know there is a fine line between caramelized and burnt, so next time, I’ll give it a little longer. I’ll blame it on the new fluorescent lighting in my new house’s kitchen, making it look darker than it was:-)
I am going to try this recipe out. I love caramel anything!! The best thing I like about this recipe is that the ingredients are available in India (where I live) and are not too expensive. i can hardly ever do most western recipies I find because some ingredients are waaaaay too expensive as they are imported. I bought a bottle of corn syrup a while ago and i use it like gold! same goes with cream cheese….. cream cheese!!!@@!!
anyway, I just wanted to say I looooove your blog and I have just become one of your regulars! God bless you Joy! (what a lovely name!)
Hey Joy– I tried to make this pudding yesterday– twice! The first time I didn’t let the caramel go long enough, so I stuck it in the fridge but decided to try another batch. A few hours later, I came back to this initial pudding and it was custardy consistency, or like flan– VERY thick. The second time, it looked and tasted completely smooth and great when warm; I put it in the fridge for a few hours, and taking it out in front of friends, it was horrifyingly lumpy, even when mixed. (No cornstarch bubbles… just lumpy. Weird.) Suspicious that I left it on the stove for too long after adding the cornstarch. Thoughts?
Hi Joy! I ran home to make this caramel pudding recipe as soon as I saw your video (caramel and sea salt = YUM)…
The caramel turned out perfectly, but I ran into trouble, I think, with the corn starch mixture. When I added it at the very end the pudding thickened up, but it also clumped up a TON. Like, more than you could possibly strain out… So the final product was like 1/2 pudding to 1/2 starchy clumps.
Any idea where I went wrong? Thanks!
Maura
Oh me too!! I had exactly the same problems as you and Amanda – clumped pudding!! I’m thinking maybe we put in too much cornstarch – i.e. heaped tablespoons… the stray cats in my flat will like it though! ;)
Seeing is believing – great instructional video. Looking forward to many more.
This looks fantastic…..I love ANYTHING sweet and I can taste this.yummmmmmmmmmy
this sounds and looks great…..will give it a try
Joy, I really want to make your recipe. Like right this second.I heard you mention in your video that you can put eggs in the pudding, but you didn’t. I just so happen to have SO MANY egg yolks in my fridge left over from a massive butter cream extravaganza from last weekend. It involved separating 24 eggs. It was intense. Now, only 19 egg yolks remain, thanks to my cleverness, but when I heard you mention adding eggs, my thrifty mind immediately went to work. How many egg yolks could I add, and when would I add them? Do I need a whole different recipe? Can’t wait to make this,
Sophie
oooh, i just made this! the pudding was sweet, rich and delicious. the sea salt and whipped cream just made it all dreamy.
i made this. the flavor was: rich, complex, simple, satisfying, leaving-me-wanting more. and yes. that makes sense. People. MAKE this.
Have you read Into Thin Air by Jon Kraukauer (sp?) A must for anyone interested in Everest. Such a great book!
This pudding looks amazing. Joy, you are my hero. And Jill, it was great to meet you too! Hopefully this is the beginning of many posts with Joy and Jill together :)
Oh, it will be!
so i made this and i came up with a really pale color pudding. like the color of the comments box.
still it was delicious. thanks for the easy pudding recipe. even if i messed it up. i liked the taste. just wondering if you could pics up of the caramel. cauz i think that’s the bit i messed up.
I pulled it from the stove right as it started to bubble, I guess it was too early.
THANK YOU!
Joy, what did I do wrong? I halved the recipe, but followed it to a Tee. I have caramel colored soup. Actually it doesn’t taste like caramel, more like sweet milk. I waited until it was deep amber, added the milk, stirred for about 10min with no thickening, thought maybe it would condense with the cornstarch. . . added the cornstarch and chilled. . . .still soup. Can corn starch go bad or loose is coagulating properties? Help! I want to make this right!
did you bring the cornstarch mixture to a boil to let it thicken?
I was just wondering if you know the difference between caramel and butterscotch pudding, how to make it i mean. I know i love butterscotch pudding and the caramel sounds delicious too. Something with brown sugar versus regular sugar?? keep up the good work joy!
Caramel and salt are a match made in heaven. I had some salted caramel ice cream this past weekend at Bi-Rite in San Fran–amazing!!! It’s my new favorite combo. This pudding looks freakin’ fantastic.
I accidentally added in all of the cornstarch mixture to the caramel/milk in the pot instead of gradually, will that mess up my pudding?
Because it kind of became pretty thick instantly :S
I’m going to leave it on the heat until it becomes less thick (hopefully) before continuing with the recipe, but I just wanted to see if that was the problem.
Thanks! :)
HI Joy, ur blog is awesome. I hav a quick question though, i tried making caramel the other day for your caramel popcron recipe but it didn’t go so well. I have never melted suger into caramel before and was wondering if there are any specifc things one should do to help insure delicious non burnt caramel? When i tried to melt my suger, it was all going well and just around the 20 minute mark when i expected my suger to start turning brown, it dried up! It turned into clumps of (still white) hard suger and by the time it remelted it had burnt.
Hi Joy!
I’m a 17 year old baker and have been following your blog since the beginning of the year! This is the first recipe of yours i tried !! It sounded super easy and the way you raved about how yummy it was i couldn’t wait to try it. Unfortunately just as i was calling my mom to ask if it was “amber enough”, it slowly started to not smell as Carmely and instead a little bit burnt! I ended up making extra dark Carmel pudding aka burnt carmle pudding. Although i had i little fumble, i still couldn’t help myself from licking the bowl.
xoxoxo
Rachel
p.s- any tips on perfecting the Carmel technique?
caramels is the lovliest thing to me, next to chocolate. and sometimes the husband.
and how adorable are they as a couple–jill and taylor, i mean. though, caramel and chocolate make a pretty awesome pair. especially in my belly.
Caramel pudding is delicious and makes a wonderful filling for a caramel pie topped with your whipped cream and sea salt! Thanks for encouraging all your readers to learn to caramelize sugar…it’s a must for all who love to cook!
Oh man, you had me at topped with sea salt! I’ve been making salted caramels like crazy lately but the idea of a version that is smooth and lovely and doesn’t stick o your teeth (and gets topped with whipped cream!) sounds amazing!!! Would it be terrible to serve these with a drizzle of chocolate too? Gotta love chocolate and caramel.
Can’t wait for the video!
chocolate!? yes. do this.
are you kidding me!? HOW FANTASTIC!
and seriously- VIDEO- but of course, your in LA woop woop!
can. not. wait.
so pumped!
Will the consistancy of the pudding be thrown off if you use 2% milk or maybe fat free half & half instead of the whole milk? Just trying to figure out a way to eat more of it without feeling so guilty!
you can certainly use 2% or skim milk for this recipe. go for it!
sometimes I call Mr Bake and Bloom puddin’ :) this looks sweeter though (sorry puddin’)
PS. It was still yummy but I bet it would have been yummier if I had let the caramel get darker!
I made this tonight… I don’t think I let the caramel get dark enough so I hope it’s still yummy! I bet it will be :)
oh my, that looks heavenly!!! oh by the way can i use regular salt or kosher sea salt is a must??? tnx joy =)
I never had frozen M & M. BUT you just say PUDDING and I
will come running.
I wish I had a friend to bake/cook with that was as excited about food as I am. Looks like you have lots of those!
Hey Joy! I with I had the same luck you did when I tried to make this a few months ago. I guess I didn’t let my caramel get brown enough (fear that I would burn my sugar). Unfortunately my pudding looked nothing like Debs or yours, nor did it taste all that great. But I had success with your Milk Chocolate Pudding recipe…its one of my favorites! :)
That looks so easy. I’ll have to try it. YUMMY!
Suzanne
I LOVE when I have everything for a recipe in my kitchen. This is TOTALLY Thursday night dessert. Oh Yum.
Omg. I am totally going to be making this tonight. So excited. I am even skipping the gym to do it! Screw sweaty spin class. Hello tasty yummy caramel pudding. I can always go next week… :D
that’s the spirit!
I don’t think anything could make me forget hot chocolate pudding on ice cream. It’s my dad’s favorite treat. But this looks delicious!
Your friend sounds wonderful. This post was fun on many levels. It was nice to see a picture of your mum. :D
Can’t wait to see the video!
Oh, you two are hilarious! Can’t wait to see the video. Sprinkling the pudding with salt is pure genius!! :-)
Yummy!!!
Joy, I am so happy to see you posting more often. I love your wit and your food.
I’m so glad you loved the pudding! I can’t wait to see the video.
help! i’m trying to make white chocolate mousse for the first time. i’ve tried so many recipes and they all are completely different and none of them have been successful. i don’t want to break down and buy the imitation instant kind, but i’ve spent way too much money on white chocolate that i haven’t even eaten!
Heat your milk or cream to just below boiling before adding the caramel. That minimizes the seizing, or eliminates it entirely. My first cooked sugar recipe was a family recipe for caramel icing that specified doing it that way, and I’ve used it successfully in other recipes.
that’s a great suggestion!
When I saw this post I thought, wow, Joy has a caramel pudding recipe too! I was going to comment about my experience with Deb’s SK caramel pudding recipe, but as I read the post I realized you too have tried Deb’s recipe. Funny. Anyway, this is an amazing recipe and it actually works great with nonfat milk as well. I have to agree that heating the milk before adding it to the sugar is a must. Great tip Pat!!!
i could have looked harder for a caramel pudding recipe… but this time around i just had to go with (and blog about) Deb’s recipe. She’s such a winner I knew it would be great!
Lovely post. Shows the real joy of preparing food.
This pudding looks wonderful! Am I weirdo because I like the pudding skin? I may have to leave the plastic wrap off…. :)
Mmmmm! Caramel in pudding form?! Wow! Joy, how do you keep your figure? I can’t eat all this fantastic suff and damn I wish I could! LOL! I think that it’s funny that there is Jill just mixing and stirring along and then there is a shot of her from behind, where you can see the camera? It’s funny that she is wearing short! I guess I just didn’t think of that, or thought you all are wearing pants! But there she is bare legged! Cute!
:)
Shannon
http://www.cascobaysoap.blogspot.com
Can’t wait for the bakeout! I love the photo rich post :D
So this is your new kitchen, so lovely and full of light, I really think the kitchen is the most important room in the whole house, mine too is very sunny, very practical.
The pudding looks great but, may I just ask, why the salt on top of it? This is totally new to me, I had never heard of it, but maybe in my country we tend to be more comservative.
Loved your new friend!
XXX
adding just a few pinches of coarse sea salt works to balance the sweetness of the pudding. it’s one of those gourmet restaurant tricks.
I cannot wait for the video! This looks like so much fun, I want a cooking buddy.
Looks like everybody had fun.
mmmmmmmmmm..caramel pudding!
That looks like such a tasty and fun kitchen party!
Forgive me. I’m totally distracted by that stove. The tilework. The cupboards and cabinetry. And the beautiful light.
YOU ARE LIVING IN A GORGEOUS PLACE, JOY!
Oh. I guess you already knew that one. :) Nice pudding, too. I love caramel and butterscotch flavored stuff.
This looks heavenly and I love how you too have joined forces. I like the idea of cooking with someone to make something like this with waiting time, etc. I’m not the greatest at cooking with others sometimes because I can be a bit of a crazy person! xxSAS
Too cute! Two cute! Get it? ;)
tender moments.
Very cute. I think the only thing I love more than caramel is butterscotch. So caramel pudding sounds absolutely lovely to me!
looks like a good time, and anything involving making caramel is a good time! is that your place? it’s very adult-like!
Of all the adorable things about this post, my favorite is the recipe written in a graph notebook.
Is that your handwriting? Its beautiful! Oh, and the pudding looks yummy as well! :D
ahhh Joy! That caramel pudding looks divine. I havent had a chance to check your blog for abt a week and my gosh I missed it. your kitchen looks huge and so comfy and homey. lovely! x
wow that’s a lot of sugar, sugar (:
making caramel is so satisfying…every time i make it im fascinated by how heat can completely transform the sugar into something so delicious! this pudding looks fantastic!
that looks delicious! And is that your new kitchen? It’s beautiful!
I need a sugar and pudding friend….FAST!
Is it wrong that I now can’t stop thinking about whipped cream and frozen M&M’s….??? Pudding looks great, I’m glad you’ve found a baking buddy!!!
it’s not wrong. i can’t stop thinking about whipped cream and frozen M&Ms either. breakfast!? yes. kinda awesome.
that pudding looks sinfully delicious… so you already got jill cooking with you and her boyfriend filming… for the next video… what about you and simon baking together and someone else can record… Isn’t he the best cupcake decorator ever? and you are both adorable… can’t go wrong! :)
that might be adorable, Adriana…. if we still went out… but we don’t. thanks for having like… the best memory ever.
ouch… i’m so sorry :(
well, we’ll wait for mr. perfect to come along and i’m sure it’ll be the perfect video!
Mmm… that caramel pudding looks fabulous! I wish there were more pictures of your gorgeous self :)
I can’t wait to see the video! Got to be perfect preparation for that cooking show you’ll be hosting soon…
I can’t get over how much you make me smile. ;)
Wei-Wei
i’m usually the girl behind the camera, so pictures of me are hard to come by!
This pudding sounds delicious!
What a fun day for you two! Can’t wait to see the video!
Whipped cream and frozen M&Ms sounds delicious!! So does this pudding…yum.
Oh, I want to make it now. :) Pudding skin, hee hee, it makes me laugh.
Pudding skin, I -love- chocolate pudding skin and now I have to make this so I can have caramel pudding skin!
Looks yummie!
Love the handwriting in the third picture!
Perfect practice for that baking show you’re going to host. You know, the show where you win the hearts of millions with your charming personality and your beautiful baking conquests. I can’t wait. :)
it looks so delicious! I love it!
That looks like a whole lotta fun… I gotta find me a cooking buddy too!