Last week I had two cups of milk, two eggs, and twenty minutes. I took to Twitter to ask you what kind of pudding I should make with my perishables and time. You answered: Chocolate. You answered: Butterscotch. One of you mentioned: Pistachio. Sold.
Pistachio pudding is so much more than the pale green, instant box, powdery stuff. Truly.
This pale green Pistachio Pudding is made from homemade pistachio paste. This is totally good news, right!? Pistachio, sugar, and just a touch of water. Stir this paste into warmed milk and eggs, and call it pudding. It’s just about that easy.
Spring pudding. I made it and I want you to also.
Oh wait! I didn’t tell you what this pudding tastes like. Pistachios. … and sugar. Go figure.
Homemade Pistachio Pudding
makes 6 small ramekins
adapted from cooks.com
Pistachio Paste:
1/2 cup salted pistachio nuts
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons water
Pudding:
2 cups whole milk
2 large egg yolks
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup pistachio nuts, chopped
To make the Pistachio Paste: place pistachios in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the nuts are in small bits. Add the sugar and water, and blend until relatively smooth. Easy!
To make the Pudding: Spoon Pistachio Paste into a medium saucepan. Add the milk and whisk over medium heat. Heat milk and pistachio until steamy and hot.
While milk is heating, whisk together granulated sugar, egg yolks, cornstarch and pinch of salt. Mixture will be thick. Keep whisking until it’s smooth. Pour about 1/2 cup of the steaming pistachio milk into the sugar and egg mixture. Whisk together. Add another half cup of hot milk and whisk to incorporate. Return the milky egg mixture into the saucepan over medium heat.
Heat pudding mixture over medium heat until thick and bubbly. Whisk almost constantly. You might also want to use a heat-proof spatula to stir the mixture, ensuring that the sides and corners of the pan aren’t burning. Boil for about 1 minute, or until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla extract, until butter is melted. Pass cooked pudding through a fine mesh strainer set over a medium bowl. This will ensure that any cooked egg bits don’t make it into the finished pudding. Press the pudding through the strainer. Add a few of the pistachio nut bits that the strainer catches, back to the pudding if you’d like
Spoon into small ramekins, place plastic wrap over the individual puddings (so the plastic touches the top of the pudding), and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
Top with lightly sweetened whipped cream and chipped pistachios.
Pudding will last, covered in the refrigerator, for up to 4 days.
Kat @ Cupcake Kat
Oh my gosh pistachio pudding is my favorite! I love pistachios. Homemade pistachio paste sounds absoultely wonderful
Justeen @ Blissful Baking
Ohmygosh the pistachio pudding looks so deliciously lovely!! I’m so excited to try this out!
Vicki B
This looks and sound utterly fantastic! If the cornstarch was left out could it be frozen into Pistachio ice cream?
ShopCookMake
I have a half gallon of milk that need to get used before it expires tomorrow. This is a great idea to use it!
Jennypenny
Looks good! My hubby loves pistachio pudding, but he loves all things processed especially boxed pudding. I don’t know if I should bother making this for him.I don’t know if he would appreciate my effort :)
Love your writing on your pics! It took me a minute to figure out you were writing out pistachio. I blame it on the fact that I wasn’t looking at all the pics at once, and not my slowness :)
Jessica @ bake me away!
Pistachios are my favorite! Did this really take only 20 minutes? I should practice sprint baking.
Also, I say and type eeeeee a lot, so that pistachio paste photo made me happy.
Annette @ CoMo Homestead
JOY! You are amazing. I have always wanted to know how to make this. Thank you for figuring this out for me!
Staci
I am so intrigued! I have never, ever seen a recipe for home made pistachio pudding! Guess I need to add pistachios to the shopping list! Thanks for sharing this!
Anne @ Baking Me
I could go for some pudding and this looks fantastic, perfect for spring!
Mallory
I saw on Twitter that you were looking for goats to pet…You’re two weeks too late to pet my parents goats. They just gave them away to a farm in San Diego. :( Tumnus and Delilah would have loved to have you let them and feed them orange tree leaves. And yes, it is a real farm and not some made up farm that parents talk about to explain why their dog died.
Kartik @ Bakeology 101
Love the idea of the home-made pistachio paste! I’m glad that you put this up because now I can also make two of Clotilde’s cake that I’ve been meaning to make for so long now – her Gâteau Surprise Chocolat Pistache and also her Pistachio Pound cake.
Awesome!
Laura @ SweetSavoryPlanet
This looks quite delicious. Glad you chose pistachio and what a nice green spring dessert!
Natalia - a side of simple
I have to admit, I’ve never even tried a pistachio before. I have that childlike syndrome when it comes to this particular nut where I just claim I don’t like them, but maybe your pudding is what’s going to convert me? I’m willing to try :)
Melinda
YUM. I love the boxed pistachio pudding, although it tastes more like almonds, I think, than pistachios. But homemade? Oh god. Heaven! I so need to make some homemade pudding sometime.
Caroline
Glad you went w/ pistachio. Good call.