Happy Valentine’s Day! I thought we should make this for a date night in… erm, three weeks ago. It was on my editorial calendar and everything! (Okay I don’t have one, but it was definitely something I would have put on one.) The fact is, I’ve always been a slow cook but I’ve gotten so much worse in the last year or so, and I think I’m just getting fussier. I can’t sleep well until I know I am not making you use even one more bowl or egg yolk than the recipe requires and I wish I was joking because it sounds more quirky and charming that way.
Take this. For years, I’d be hearing about the wonder that is Butterscotch Budino from the pastry chef Dahlia Narvaez at Nancy Silverton’s Mozza, one of Los Angeles’s most famous desserts. Think of it like a classic, homey butterscotch pudding (kinda like this) made as luxe as possible with more butter, a deeper caramel, egg yolks, cream, salted caramel, whipped creme fraiche, yes, I too would be on a flight to Los Angeles right now after reading that if they weren’t all grounded.
[Sidebar: A budino is a custard or an unbaked pot de creme and also a pudding, but an American pudding, a British pudding seems to be — and you can tell I find this confusing, no matter how much GBBO I watch, although I’d be happy to watch another 10 seasons (hint!) if that’s what it required — a dessert course that’s either pudding-as-we-know-it or steamed cake and also it can be savory too. Sorry, I digress. The place where budinos end and all of the other cold, pudding-like desserts begin isn’t rigid.]
I finally made it, used every dish in my apartment, and it was glorious. We loved it. We shared it with friends, and I’d planned to share it with you and not too long ago I would have and that would have been the end of it but I couldn’t let go of how stressfully complicated it was. For good reason; it’s a restaurant dessert and restaurants can pull off things scaled up things we find exasperating at home on a smaller scale, with no line cooks and dishwashing staff at our disposal. Or at least no particularly useful ones.
Over the next couple weeks, I reviewed almost every custard and pudding formula I’ve ever used or loved and realized I could make a few tweaks that made it a little less of everything. First, I trimmed down the serving size to 6 small cups. This is not a lot of pudding, but this feels so luxurious to us, it was all we needed. Absolutely double it if your crew, or craving, is larger. I used fewer bowls (just one plus the pot), fewer egg yolks, a higher proportion of milk to cream, and I found the resulting dessert so good, it didn’t even need the salted caramel on top.
But, of course, it’s quite amazing with it, you know, when you want to be a little extra, like maybe because there’s a howling wind and sleetstorm outside and your weekend plans are derailed (a little extra rum in yours, in that case) and maybe if staying in tasted this good, we’d do it more often.
Luxe Butterscotch Pudding
Let’s talk about sugar: Classic butterscotch pudding is very sweet. Popular recipes on major food sites use up to 1/2 cup brown sugar per cup of milk or cream. I find 2/3 cup total for this recipe to be sweet but not excessive, but do know it works with up to 3/4 cup brown sugar, if you want a more classic butterscotch intensity. If you plan to put caramel on top, or if know you like your butterscotch pudding more mild, use only 1/2 cup brown sugar a smidge less salt. Finally, do note that the color comes from the brown sugar caramel: the less sugar you use, the more pale that pudding will be, which is fine, but just note it will not look like the pictures.
The caramel sauce makes a scant cup. It’s more than you’ll need. I have no idea what you’ll do with the rest; probably it will go to waste. At Mozza, Dahlia Narvaez heats the cream used for the caramel with the seeds from 1/4 of a vanilla bean before adding it to the sauce. I did it once this way, the second time used vanilla sugar instead of plain sugar, and the third time, skipped it altogether. Salted caramel, in my opinion, tastes good enough without it.
- 2/3 cup (125 grams) dark brown sugar [see Note]
- 2/3 teaspoon (or a heaped 1/2 teaspoon) kosher salt
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) water
- 1 cup (235 ml) heavy cream
- 1 cup (235 ml) milk (whole or lowfat work here)
- 2 tablespoons (15 grams) cornstarch
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 large egg
- 3 tablespoons (45 grams) unsalted butter
- 1 to 2 teaspoons (5 to 10 ml) vanilla extract
- 1 to 2 teaspoons rum (optional)
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (125 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) water
- 2 tablespoons (30 grams) salted or unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy cream
- Flaky sea salt, to taste
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- Sugar, to taste, if desired
- 2 tablespoons creme fraiche or sour cream (optional)
Pudding
Salted Caramel (optional)
To finish
Make the pudding: Stir the brown sugar, water, and salt together in the bottom of a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Turn the heat on to medium-high and cook the mixture without stirring until it’s dark brown and smells caramelized, 8 to 10 minutes. Whisk in the cream (it’s going to hiss and bubble dramatically), then milk. The butterscotch is going to firm up when the cooler cream/milk hits it, but bring the mixture back to a boil, stirring all the way into the corners, and the butterscotch will liquefy again.
In a medium bowl, whisk the egg, egg yolks, and cornstarch. Very slowly drizzle in 1 cup of the butterscotch mixture, whisking the whole time. The bowl should feel warm, but if it does not, keep drizzling in butterscotch and whisking until it does, then whisk this back into the mixture still in the saucepan. Return the saucepan to the stove over medium heat, whisking constantly, until it comes to a bloopy, slow simmer. Whisk it, simmering, for 1 to 2 minutes; it should thicken fast.
Remove pot from heat, whisk in butter until it melts, then rum, if using, and vanilla — you can start with 1 teaspoon and add the second if you want a stronger flavor.
Pour pudding into 6 small cups (I use these glasses) and chill in fridge until fully cool and set, a few hours or overnight. If you’d like to prevent a pudding skin on top, cover the glasses tightly with plastic.
Make the salted caramel, if using it: Once the puddings are mostly cool and set, you can make the salted caramel. Combine the sugar and water in the bottom of a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan, then turn heat on stove to medium-high and cook without stirring (but you can gently tip the pan to gauge color) until the sugar takes on an amber color, about 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat and carefully whisk butter, then cream, into the caramel (it’s going to hiss and bubble dramatically, too). If the caramel firms, you can return it to stove to gently heat it until it melts again, but I didn’t find this necessary. Add salt to taste. Let caramel cool a bit, then spoon some onto the top of each pudding and let them finish cooling.
To serve: Beat cream and 1 teaspoon sugar, if desired, until it holds very soft peaks, then beat in creme fraiche or sour cream, if desired, which should finish thickening the cream, but if it does not, gently beat for another minute until soft peaks form. Dollop some on each pudding dish and eat immediately.
But the cornmeal pinenut cookies are the real star recipe, although I’m not entirely sure that’s what they’re called. I’ve been to Mozza and have the book, and those cookies are my favorite…possibly even better than the pudding.
But I’m excited for an easier bundino recipe to have as a side dish for the cookies.
What is the cookie recipe????
This sounds like the perfect antidote to a bleak winter day. I was wondering if you could just use two cups of half and half instead of the cups of heavy cream and milk?
Yes, you absolutely can, forgot to mention it.
I made it entirely with whole milk, because I didn’t have any cream and I couldn’t wait. It was creamy and delicious.
Thanks a heap for trying this! I can’t wait to try this recipe with A2-milk as my mother is allergic to A1-milk protein.
Wonderful! I think I could have let the butterscotch go a little longer, it is just so hard to tell with the brown sugar making it so dark. Flavor was good, but could have been a little deeper. A learning experience! Accidentally used half and half instead of cream and it turned out great. No problems with graininess. I mixed the corn starch with the eggs before I started the butterscotch and I think the resting time gave the corn starch time to incorporate and reduce lumpiness.
Nice! I made the original recipe recently and I got around 18 servings out of it, which (a) made me very popular; and (b) made me think that perhaps I needed to scale down the recipe and make it more often. This looks like an excellent way to do so! I’ll have to give it a try. :)
This looks amazing, but mostly I want to thank you for the link to the glasses you used! I’m having a dinner party fundraiser next month and planning to make a chocolate budino for dessert and I’ve searched high and low for the right vessel to serve it in and these look perfect! Also kinda rethinking the chocolate in favor of butterscotch…
Mine did not turn out quite right but still incredibly delicious. After 9 min on the stove, I thought it seemed dark and caramelized enough, but it barely seized up when I added the milk. Butterscotch flavor not as pronounced as I would have liked due to this. Homemade pudding makes me want to re-create all the banana puddings of my childhood, only better! Thanks Deb!
Seizing up or not shouldn’t be an issue; it doesn’t always happen (especially if you drizzle it in and mix really well). How much sugar did you use?
2/3 cup. Of the 8-10 min on your stove, how much of that time was it bubbling? Mine only the last 3 min if I remember right. Probably just a difference in pans.
I didn’t start timing until it was bubbling – mine bubbled for about 6 of the 8 minutes before I decided it smelled right and then proceeded from there. Mine is setting now, but what I licked off the spoon was amazing!
I saw the glasses that you use for your putting there were two sizes to choose from which size did you use? It looks like a lovely recipe. Can’t wait to try
These are the larger ones I show; these are the smaller.
I do not see a print prompt to be able to just print the recipe. Am I missing it? Thanks.
There is a print icon that leads to a print template at the bottom of each recipe, where it says “DO MORE:” You can also click CTRL + P from any recipe post and it will take you to a streamlined print template.
I found the information and just printed this recipe. It sounds fabulous and I can’t wait to try it. Thanks.
i had the same issue, i didn’t wait until it started bubbling to time it out. My brown sugar was basically black once i added the water so the color told me nothing. I usually burn sugar so i way under cooked it this time, bubbling for only about 4 minutes, the flavor is good, just kind of plain and not very butterscotchy. I wish i’d seen this comment before i made mine so I’d know to time it after the bubbles start. Oh well, an excuse to try again – more pudding! :)
Gorgeous! Simple looking but so elegant. I’ve added it to my dinner party list of recipes.
Also, this confused me a little bit. You may need to have a look at the wording of this bit:
“At Mozza, Nancy Silverton heats the cream used for the caramel with a quart of 1/4 of a vanilla bean”
I noticed that and decided she started out writing the word quarter and decided to with the fraction instead. Lol
Deb, I’ve been following you since before your pregnancies and am jumping in here to say that I love your writing style, your humor, your clarity, your honesty, your insight, your recipes and… well, everything else too!
You are gifted and I am so happy to ‘know’ you!
Continue your adventure… and sharing it with allllll of us!
I met Deb during one of her recent cookbook tour stops in Naperville IL and I can assure you that she is as charming and warm in person as her writings portray her! We are all happy to ‘know’ you Deb and your amazing recipes.
And your little daughter (I clicked the link to see the dish washer :D ) is a star! Lovely and glowing.
Wish you had also printed the original recipe or not mentioned it at all! I hate when an article says I made this amazing pudding so I changed it. At least give us a choice!
You can find the original recipe quite easily by googling it!
or, you could google “silverton butterscotch budino” if you don’t want to make the one this writer wanted to create and talk about
I make your other butterscotch pudding often, and my family loves it. I can’t wait to try this more ‘luxe’ version. Thanks!
So, my brown sugar, water salt mixture was on the stove for about 5 minutes and it smelled like it was burning. I added the milk and cream at this point, but am afraid my pudding will be missing the “luxe” flavor.
I’m pretty accomplished at making caramel, so not sure what went wrong here (I currently have salted caramel sauce in the fridge and will use that to top it). Any ideas?
I’ve had problems with using the water method as well, but I’ve found that if it’s just lightly burnt then adding a little extra salt (to taste) can rectify some of the burnt flavor.
How did it go? Funny, I never use the water method but I’ve found over the years that others find it a little easier. Basically, things go from lightly toasted to the right color more evenly, and less quickly, so it’s less stressful. But, without water you can stir it to even things out. With water, it crystalizes. (Note: Not a baking technologist! This is just what I find.)
The flavor was just meh, unfortunately. It’s so funny, my mother in law and I go back and forth-she is an expert at wet caramels, and I’ve had great success with dry caramels, so I guess this continues!
I’m going to try your other butterscotch pudding recipe you reference!
I’m so glad you that you rate the wonder that is GBBO. Isn’t it the best show EVER?
Ok, so can anyone talk me through what adjustments would allow me to turn this into a butterscotch pie instead? I am wondering if I upped the cornstarch by a couple teaspoons then maybe it would stiffen sufficiently to be placed in tartlets? Because the only thing I can think of to improve this is serving it in a tiny all-butter pie crust instead of a cup….
I may, of course, be jumping the shark on this one.
Maybe one more tablespoon cornstarch? I think you’ll be set.
I did! I subbed all the cornstarch for 40g of flour (I had had issues in the past with cornstarch-thickened custards liquifying when cold and did not want to take risks) and used the cooled pudding for… filling profiteroles choux! I let them sit in the fridge overnight and then served them doused with the salted caramel sauce. Super duper profiteroles than no one had ever tasted before. They were an absolute hit. Thanks Deb for a very very versatile recipe!
Marcella, you are brilliant. I’m doing this.
Marcella – I’m going to this ASAP. It sounds stupendous.
Are you all filling the pie with the pudding and then baking it? Or just using the pudding as filling and sticking in the fridge? I was thinking of doing the latter (with a chocolate cookie crust). Think I still need to thicken it?
I made this, and it was quite delicious! I caramelized the sugar for the pudding for less time can you suggest, though; if I had done for 8 to 10 minutes it would’ve been totally burnt.
So I had some crumbs left over from some broken gingersnaps (this recipe https://smittenkitchen.com/2011/11/gingersnaps/) blended those in the food processor added some butter, put that in the oven for 15 minutes to make a gingercookie crust. Then made this as directed above with an additional tablespoon of cornstarch, and add that to the cooled crust and put in the fridge to cool. Finished with a layer of barely sweetened whipcream and rainbow sprinkles (my wife thinks everything is better with sprinkles and who am I to argue). Worked great and was set firmly with a wonderful texture!
Pudding. Has two distinct meanings, which might explain your confusion. One is the direct UK equivalent of “dessert”, so very broad. (The word “dessert” isn’t much used here and to a UK ear sounds distinctly American). The second is a steamed, traditionally suet-based, kind of dish which these days is indeed mostly found as a dessert (sticky toffee pudding, spotted dick (yes, that is a real dish)) but which originated several hundred years ago as a savoury dish, and which you can still find in a few savoury contexts today (steak and kidney pudding comes to mind). In the Bake Off they typically use the word to refer to the combination of the two things, i.e. a sweet steamed dessert.
Oh and of course there is the third meaning of pudding which is the equivalent of “boudin”, a kind of sausage, most commonly “black pudding”, a blood sausage associated in particular with Bury in Lancashire and Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides, and a key component of a true full English breakfast. Which I imagine might be a surprise if you only know “pudding” as a squidgy sweet dessert.
And, of course, there is also Yorkshire Pudding, which is a baked batter that is similar-ish to an unsweetened version of the Dutch Baby recipes that are on this site, and is often served on the same plate as a full “roast dinner” (roast beef, roast oats toes, vegetables, gravy, etc). This was presumably a cheap form of “stodge” to make the more expensive components of the meal stretch to more people. Just to add to the confusion further, in some places, Yorkshire Pudding is also served as a starter (appetiser) with onion gravy or as a pudding (dessert) with golden syrup and cream.
Sadly, “roast oats toes” are not a quaint British thing, but an autocorrect error for “roast potatoes”…
I, too, am sad that roast oats toes are not a thing, but your comment made me smile!
Hahaa!!! I was just about to google “roast oats toes”’and see what I’ve been missing. Love this, thanks for the laugh.
Right. As Deb says, it’s a course, although whether you choose to refer to it as “afters,” “sweet,” or “pud” may depend upon class and region. On the sweet side of things, “pudding” is a steamed sponge (generally enveloped in something syrup-y and may involve the application of dried fruit, cf figgy and toffee varieties, cf malva), something quite close to what US Americans, amongst others, call a bread pudding (“bread and butter pudding”), or an egg-less and custard-less affair, whereby one merges over the course of several hours or days fresh fruit and old bread (“summer pudding,” as distinct from “fruit pudding”). And when you add layers of cream or custard to the latter, you’ve probably got yourself a trifle.
Anglophones must drive speakers of other languages bonkers with all this contrariness.
Yes! We called all sweet things that followed a meal “afters” when I was growing up (in Yorkshire, England)!
Speaking of little ones ‘helping’: a friend of mine was complaining about needing a new dishwasher (mechanical kind) because theirs took a long time, running for 2 or more hours.
Turns out her littlest one was ‘helping’ by (re) pushing the buttons when she wasn’t looking.
Where is the scotch??
I wondered the same thing and looked it up, and I *think* I found somewhere that the word butterscotch was actually one of those mispronounced words and that it just means “scorched butter.” Which makes sense if you’re burning sugar and adding butter to make a caramel.
Indeed, butterscotch does not traditionally contain scotch. Wikipedia, too, says that the origin might be “scorch” (for heat) or “scotched” cut into squares, like the candy) instead.
This seems like the perfect spot for Stella Park’s toasted sugar… I mean, I love brown sugar too though, so maybe I’ll have to make one of each. For science.
This looked so good that I immediately made it. The flavor is amazing, but the texture is super grainy. Any idea why? I would say that I didn’t temper my eggs enough but it looked kinda grainy before I put them in.
Thanks!!
Whoops — I forgot to mention that traditionally you’re supposed to strain custards through fine-mesh strainers to remove any possible blips. I consider it optional, and don’t usually bother. I did it the first time but didn’t the others, didn’t notice anything worth worrying about. But maybe I was just lucky. Did yours set up?
Mine was grainy as well. It set just fine- maybe even a little too much if that’s possible? I was wondering if sifting in the cornstarch would have helped.
I seem to have this same issue with butterscotch pudding only. Cannot figure it out….
Mine was super grainy too. The milk and caramel mixture curdled before I even added the eggs.
I made this yesterday and had the same grainy issue — it still tasted good, and I chalked it up to the butter being added to the end getting cold… but maybe it was the lack of straining! I’ll do that next time.
Mine also came out grainy and overset. I wonder if I just overcooked it? It’s still delicious so I will make it again but I wonder if it can be resolved without straining?
I came to your site today to find a good use for the two egg yolks I had saved, and look what you posted!
I like cutting the sweetness of butterscotch pudding by adding a little ground coffee with the milk, and it worked well here, especially with using 1/2 c. of sugar.
Thanks for making decadent comfort food so easy!
oh wow what a great idea. i’ve been making variations of butterscotch pudding with coconut milk and while delish, always feel like they’re missing something. the coffee might round it out perfectly. thanks for the tip!
I worked in the Mozza pastry kitchen for two years, and I made, literally, thousands of those babies. (Don’t even get me started on those pine nut cookies… The number of rosemary sprigs I stuck in there is beyond realistic comprehension.)
I noticed you used rum instead of scotch. Is this a personal preference or just something you had on hand?
In order to get that real “Mozza” flavor, you have to partially burn the brown sugar. That enhances the “peaty” notes in the scotch. I have to say that if I made a budino with the color depicted in your pictures, Nancy would have described them as anemic. Nancy always told me that if I make them at home, the fire alarm has to go off, otherwise then I didn’t make them right.
Not to say they wouldn’t be delicious. They look delightful! I just thought I would give a more complete picture to the otherwise ambiguous nature of the Mozza Butterscotch Budino.
Cheers!
Oh that’s so interesting! Thank you for sharing. The one I made from her (so called) official recipe [see here and here] was more pale — she uses less sugar than I did for the amount of dairy. It called for rum, not scotch. Tell us more, tell us more!
I apologize for sounding persnickety, but the credit for this dessert doesn’t go to Nancy Silverton. Dahlia Narvaez, the pastry chef for all the Mozza restaurants, created the butterscotch budino.
https://www.saveur.com/butterscotch-budino-pudding-recipe
Dahlia told me that the plan was for Pizzeria Mozza to have exclusively gelato for dessert. The City of Los Angeles dragged its feet on the permit that would have allowed the use of the gelato machine, so Dahlia had to come up with another dessert. By the time the gelato machine was approved there would have been riots in the streets if she removed the butterscotch budino from the menu.
Personally, I don’t think that any component is optional (pudding, sauce, whipped creme fraiche, cookie). They all complement each other. Countless times, I’ve taught people how to eat it correctly. You have to dip your spoon straight down to the bottom of the cup then pull it straight up so you get all three components in each bite. The rosemary/pine nut cookie provides crunch and a bit of astringency as counterpart to the sweet creaminess of the pudding.
http://www.latimes.com/food/la-fo-cookiesrec5dec13-story.html
So good to know, thank you! Re, optional parts: absolutely none are optional if you are aiming for the Mozza gold standard. But I found at the base of the recipe was a very good, luxurious butterscotch pudding and I want people to know how great it is solo. Please note, I really didn’t use the Mozza recipe in the end for the pudding, I use a tiny bit more sugar, less cream, fewer yolks, a couple fewer steps. But it’s close and fully inspired by it.
Which kosher salt do you use: Diamond or Morton? (The NYT says Morton is nearly twice as salty: “The Single Most Important Ingredient” 4/25/17) Do you always use the same kosher salt in all your recipes?
Deb uses Diamond, and for good reason, as I have learned by experience. I tried Diamond on her recommendation, and love it–just can no longer find it locally (Sacramento, CA)! Morton is available, but it is more salty tasting, and to me not as good. I’m hoarding my remaining small supply of Diamond until I can force myself to pay Amazon’s price. (Ordering directly from the company is inexpensive until shipping is added, then it’s out of sight.)
Thanks, yes, Diamond. It’s lighter and it does matter here. I used to mention it in recipes but it ended up being more distracting. I wrote about it here in 2010.
Did you try Corti Bros. on Folsom bLVD?
So, so late in this reply but I’ll say from experience that you have to be careful about the salt you use! I tried making this in China with the normal supermarket salt there, and it was completely inedible. The only salvageable part was the caramel on top, which was an honest tragedy.
Looks so delicious! I love how easy it is to make it ♥
I am traveling, but I CANNOT WAIT to get home and make this!
Looks like a party treat my family would love!
How is it than when I red one of your recipes, I have no choice but to go directly into the kitchen and begin cooking?
It’s all part of my evil plan. :)
Can hardly wait to try this. It brings back happy memories of my mother’s Butterscotch Pie , the occasional but favourite treat she would make for my dad – complete with a meringue topping. (“Occasional” because it was so-o rich!). Perhaps I’ll make your pudding for St. Patrick’s Day – the day my father would be 110 years old!
Oh my gosh, this looks delicious! I was wondering if there was an alternative milk that could be used instead? Maybe cashew or walnut if it were fatty enough? I’m lactose intolerant.
Can you get lactose-free milk in your area? There’s also a lactase additive you may be able to get from a pharmacy/drugstore that you add to milk 24 hours before you want to use it and it breaks down most of the lactose.
I’m lactose-intolerant too and I use lactose-free products, however I find I can tolerate a small amount of milk/milk products.
Extra caramel sauce will never go to waste in my house. I’ll just eat it by the spoonful from the jar. The fact that this recipe makes extra caramel sauce is a bonus in my books!!
Thanks
Looks yummy. I have never had room in my stomach to eat dessert when I go to Mozza. Too full from all the delicious savory things.
Looks so good! Can this pudding recipe be used for a butterscotch pie filling as well?
Look upthread for a reply from Marcella. She did it.
(Deb, I really miss the comments being numbered — they were so much easier tor refer to.)
Me too. It was so much easier to reference them when they were numbered.
Sadly, we cannot have numbered *and* threaded comments. It just doesn’t work, at best, you’d have strange numbers (34-1, 34-2, etc.). But we kept the comment permalinks! I insisted. And another redesign/refresh is in the works, I think we’ll all be happier.
Can I put in a request to “like” the comments and for the comments to be sorted based on most likes? Personally, I find myself skimming through the comment section before making a recipe to go over variations, substitutions and possible things to watch for.
Kinda related: I would love for cookbooks to have an online bookclub where people cooking from them can share tips, variations etc. Very helpful for amateur cooks like me. This is one the reasons why I tend to use recipes from blogs more than the ones from a cookbook. I do have both of your books because I use the recipes from your blog regularly and felt like buying the book was the right way to say thanks :)
We can look into comment likes, for sure. Not sure if you saw it, but Food52’s Cookbook Club is cooking through my new book this month, and there’s a very active commenting base; I’m trying to answer questions too. Here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/food52cookbookclub/
Re, me adding a Q&A section here… I gotta see. Sadly, the way my work is set up, there is nobody else who can answer questions for me, and I’m already at capacity with comments and DMs and emails and basically not doing any of them particularly effectively. I say this not to complain (I love this job) but mostly to throw it out there and see how others value this stuff.
Oh I totally understand that handling a Q & A section for your cookbooks would be a time taking task in itself. I was just throwing it out there as why recipes in a blog work better for cooks like. Thanks for considering the comment likes feature, will be easier to look at the most helpful comments.
Excuse the typos.. too many to correct
I would hate to add to your workload but I would LOVE a Q&A section for your cookbook. I think it’s mainly because I’m used to seeing everyone comments on your recipes and I miss it when I cook out of your book. But totally get it’s really time intensive. Thanks for everything you do Deb!
This was really fun to make as I have never made pudding, or caramel, before. It is so rich and decadent. I opted out of the whipped cream and I think it was a mistake because I think it would have cut the sweetness a bit. Or I would have skipped the salted caramel sauce. It’s soooooo sweet. My personal taste would have cut the sugar a bit but anyone with a hardcore sweet tooth will love love love it!
Just made this with 2/3 c. dark brown sugar. I let it go 8 minutes as I have an irrational fear of burning sugar. Everything went together well, but missed the clear butterscotch flavor. Overall taste was ‘sweet’. I didn’t strain, texture was fine. Do I need to cook longer and just leave it to the sugar gods?
I should have noted that 8 is at the low end. I always needed 10 but of course wanted to account for some pots being thinner, stoves running hotter, etc.
It is an amazing and one of my favorite desserts ever. It is yummy! Readers should try it with creamy butterscotch pudding and dark rich candy pudding.
We enjoyed this pudding tonight! Thanks for the great recipe. My only question is – how do I know when the brown sugar is correctly caramelized? Since it is dark from the beginning, I wan’t sure when to stop cooking it.
Smell, in this case. I found 8 to 10 minutes to be just right both times, but if yours starts smelling too toasty (i.e. less good), take it off.
How could anyone let salted caramel go to waste?!? 😱😂
How long would this pudding keep in the fridge?
I have lived in the UK for five years and I still have no idea how to define a pudding here or what to call American-style pudding when I talk about it or make it for my British friends, and while I know that was not the point of your sidebar, I am reeeeally glad to know I’m not the only one having that dilemma!
Oh Deb, I know this must sound persnickety, but do you know the temperature? I always ruin carmelization when I’m left to my own devices, but when given specific temps (e.g., your cider caramels, which I make multiple times a year), I always succeed. (Those caramels have absolutely never come out wrong.)
Didn’t check or need it here — caramel temp is important when you want a candy to set, but here, we’re just going for dark.
Ha! I was wondering the same. I have an thermal scan reader and I couldn’t tell if I got it hot enough, so I was checking it. I didn’t get much more than 270°F, which I thought was low…. I guess I chickened out. It was very bubbly, then the bubbles became very viscous as the moisture left, and that was when the temp started to rise a bit more. White sugar is usually around 330-350°F when I make dry caramel.
We made this tonight with the caramel sauce and it was WONDERFUL!
Oh man, I managed to mess this up in all the ways. First, I scorched the caramel and had floating pieces of carbon. I filtered them out and proceeded to scramble the eggs. I trashed the whole thing, started over, and they didn’t set up. I’m gonna pour those cups back into the pot and add some more cornstarch and see if I can’t pull off a rescue this evening.
How long will this keep in the fridge? Could I make it a few days ahead?
Probably 5 to 6 days, easily.
Awesome! Thank you!! (sorry just noticed my comment posted twice.)
I was so excited to try this because I LOVE the Nancy Silverton recipe and have made it a number of times but it always makes so much and and I don’t ever have XL eggs etc etc. But you should modify your recipe…don’t say to bring mixture to a boil before tempering eggs, I should have known better! It just needs to be hot to temper eggs. I’m a trained pastry chef, but I nevertheless followed your instructions. Since the milk and cream came to a boil with acidic brown sugar made even more acidic by caramelization, it turned my mixture into ricotta!! In Nancy’s recipe she doesn’t say to BTB, just to liquify. Xo Love your recipes normally Deb! Thanks
Hmmmm, maybe that’s my slightly grainy issue! What would the resolution to the acidity prior to adding the dairy??
I always make David Lebovitz’s butterscotch pudding, but this looks like a nice luxe treat. Maybe I’ll make it for my husband’s birthday! It’s his favorite.
I made this last night and it’s a BEAUTIFUL buttery pudding. Often, pudding recipes come out tasting “eggy,” but in this case it’s perfect. Agree that the portions should be small, this is RICH.
I made this for dessert. It was amazing. I added a splash of rum, it was so good.
Thank you for this recipe. 😊
I also found this a bit grainy, although tasty. Perhaps the sugar wasn’t caramelized enough? (I did sieve it).
The peat whisky was a great suggestion. I can see rum working, but I’m glad I used the whiskey, it added a pleasant and contrasting note.
Deb – loved this recipe, and it seemed to come together perfectly, but the texture was not as silky as I had hoped for. Not grainy with sugar, but maybe a bit powdery like the corn starch. What could I do to fix this?
I need to add back the sieving step — I’m sorry I’d removed it, I just so often skip it, never had a problem. (But was probably just lucky.) Sorry for the trouble.
In response to your having left out the sieving step and to other readers whose pudding came out grainy – I did sieve this and mine still came out grainy. Tastes wonderful, but the texture is off-putting.
Agreed. I also used a sieve to strain, and it was still grainy when cooked. Definitely not silky and shiny and smooth. Though when warm the texture was fine. Not sure what went wrong for me! But the tase was great!
A few years ago I tried to make pudding and the same thing happened (different recipe, website, and flavor.) I shied away from making it since then, but gave it another try tonight with this recipe. Maybe homemade pudding is just like that and I am expecting the texture of the store-bought kind? Or maybe I stink at making pudding. 😂
I have been contemplating this recipe for weeks, but was put off by the prospect of all.the.mess. Yay for slightly simplified, less dish doing, doable butterscotch budino. Putting this back in the queue.
Thanks for the recipe, these look marvelous! I’m a long time avid reader and devoted fan of your recipes Deb, ever since I made it to the US in fact. I just wanted to chip in and say, while other readers have brilliantly defined what the British mean by pudding, as a Brit I would have no idea what to call these at home and would probably say “butterscotch dessert”!
(Thereby having dessert for pudding :D)
OMG! Perfection!!!
I liked this – it came together quick. I used half and half instead of heavy cream (grabbed the wrong carton) and upped the cornstarch another .rounded teaspoon. I used half the amount of rum – it was plenty for me. I’ll definitely make this again. Hopefully with cream
Are you interested in any comments about your new cookbook recipes, or because the book is published would you rather me not mention any concerns or compliments? I made the banana bread roll tonight. Thanks!
Of course — I’m always interested in reviews, good or bad. How did the roll go?
Well, then, in the edition I have, there is no amount given for the freshly grated nutmeg so I put in about 1/4 teaspoon. The main problem I had was after lightly sprinkling powdered sugar over the baked roll before wrapping it in parchment to cool. I have made many jelly roll style cakes before wrapped in tea towels to cool but never used parchment before. For some reason, the cake stuck quite a bit to the parchment (it left most of the top of the cake- just a thin layer of it…kind of hard to explain) when I unrolled it to frost after cooling for 45 minutes. If I try it again, I will either go back to cloth and/or heavily dust with powdered sugar. I was surprised, (but should not be knowing that you do not like particularly sweet desserts) to realize that the filling is not very sweet. I might have added more powdered sugar, but I do not consider this a fault, just a different sweetness level would have been more to my own taste. All in all, it was a win because it was a very nice presentation (and I covered the top with plenty of powdered sugar before serving). Thanks for a new look at an old favorite. I was pleased to find a recipe like this without any added oil or butter to the cake itself!
Thanks for the feedback. I’m sorry you had trouble; the other feedback I’ve gotten has been all positive, but no recipe in history has ever worked exactly the same for everyone. Nutmeg I’d intended to taste; I usually just grate it a bunch of times, but don’t do it over a measuring spoon. (And if I did say, for example, 1/2 teaspoon, it would be much more intense from a jar, where it’s more powdery and compact than freshly grated, for which a 1/2 teaspoon wouldn’t be too much, thus leaving the amount open seemed safer.) I know some people like more and for others, a pinch is plenty. What kind of parchment did you use? I find that some brands are great, but others are terrible, but I always found it less sticky with parchment vs. cloth. It’s intended as a brunch or coffee cake; I didn’t want to take something simply and breakfast-y like banana bread and make it as sweet as a birthday cake, but I also assume that if someone is concerned that the frosting/filling isn’t sweet enough, that they might try it first, because there’s nothing of course raw or inedible.
The parchment paper is called “Prime Source”. It comes in a box of sheets, a thousand of them. I have only used parchment paper to line pans, so using it in this way was new to me, so it could have been the wrong brand for this sort of thing. I still wonder if I had heavily powder sugared before rolling if that might have made the difference. Of course, you are right about the filling- I could have easily added more powdered sugar because even though I eat banana bread for breakfast, I don’t think I would eat this for breakfast…or would I? Nonetheless, such a fun recipe and certainly one that could be varied adding Nutella or peanut butter, etc. to the filling. The amazing thing about your cookbooks is the way you do recipes in a totally new way. Thank you for letting us all enjoy your creativity!
Thank you. I hope it goes better and more to your liking next time!
Looks good to me! ;)
Ooh—butterscotch! I remember bookmarking Mozza’s budino recipe (on Epicurious?) years ago, but never attempted it because shortly after I saw it was getting awful reviews (not to mention it was complicated). Thank you for the streamlined/simplified version—I’ll definitely try this one!
Oh, and btw, I only recently started reading and cooking from your blog (I have no idea what took me so long), and so far everything has been amazing. I too have a pint-sized wannabe sous chef who needs feeding on a regular basis, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate (relatively) simple, quick recipes that aren’t just recombined processed food. :-)
Yesterday was a Smitten Kitchen snow day. Dutch baby for breakfast and butterscotch pudding for dessert. Thank you for your sweet sweet blog.
for everyone running into grainy issues, cooks illustrated says it comes from unmixed bits of fat and can be prevented by whisking the life out of the pudding or custard mixture. https://www.cooksillustrated.com/how_tos/6580-for-creamy-custards-go-stir-crazy
Hi there, I’ve made the Mozza recipe several times, and have slightly adapted it myself. But it never occurred to me to scale it down. Your recipe makes a dessert is truly delicious and a perfect quantity for my family.
As a bit of a food science geek, I used some tricks I know to address some of the issues that have showed up in the comments.
The saltiness issue: I much prefer the salt component to be evident in the caramel sauce, rather than the pudding. I use 1/2 tsp of regular table salt in the pudding, and add flaky sea salt or kosher salt to the caramel sauce, when it’s cool enough to taste. That way I can add a little at a time, and taste as I go.
The graininess that some commentators have mentioned is most likely not due to the cornstarch, sifted or not, but as Erin R said, the protein in the milk and cream coagulating when it meets the hot, acidic caramalised brown sugar. Less coagulation will happen if you let the caramel cool somewhat before adding the milk and cream. You have to stop the caramel continuing to cook from residual heat in the pan, so I have an inch or so of cold water ready in the sink, and as soon as the caramel is done, put the whole pan in the water. The milk/cream only needs to be tepid to gently dissolve the caramel and temper the eggs.
I cook the pudding , then strain to get out any remaining little lumps.
My final tip for a truly velvety pudding is to use a immersion blender(stick blender) for whisking in the butter and rum, after letting the pudding cool to barely warm. This seems to make are more emulsified pudding, with a silky finish. Cheers from NZ, Karen.
p.s. Does anyone else think some sliced banana might taste good under the pudding?
This is great! Thanks so much.
Well thank you for such consistently inspiring post! I see something on your site, and it kickstarts me to tinker and play.B.t.w., your black bean/charred corn nachos are now part of my staple repitiore. Also loving the new book. Cheers from Karen
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes on the banana!! :D
On your Flicker post today there was a 404 “page not found” error, and I thought you might enjoy/appreciate this. Mary Fons, who writes a very enjoyable quilting blog (http://blog.maryfons.com/) has this as her 404 Error message:
The paths you walk down
lead to the treasures you seek.
But this one does not.
I do love your posts. It is as though you are either sitting in my/your kitchen, or we are talking on one of those old wall phones with a 20 ft. curly cord.
Suzanne K
Wow! This pudding was so rich and delicious! Everyone in my home raved about it so much that I’ve made it twice this week. I had run out of vanilla extract when I made it for the second time so I used maple extract in its place and it was still wonderfully delicious 😋 I plan on making it again with the caramel sauce and whipped cream. I actually love all the pudding recipes on your site. Your Carmel pudding used to be my favorite but this butterscotch pudding has definitely taken its place as my favorite!
Question: why kosher salt?
In the midst of making this with regular sea salt (is there kosher sea salt?) I am sure it will be delicious, but I am assuming that you have a good reason and I would like to know the contribution of kosher salt in this recipe.
Thank you!
It measures slightly more consistently. Sea salt sizes and weights are all over the map. You can salt it with sea salt, but you’ll want to do it to taste.
And really, seriously, you gotta have the accompanying rosemary shortbread to go with it. A billion extra steps, sure, but that whole dessert is perfection. Can’t wait to try your version!
My son and I made this for dessert tonight, with both caramel sauce and whipped cream. It’s absolutely delicious. Next time we’ll let the brown sugar go a little longer, and maybe 2T of rum instead of 1. I always err on the lower side when making a recipe for the first time – you can’t undo too much flavoring, but you can remember for the next time. Likewise, we just put a small dish of sea salt on the table so people could have salted caramel or not. So glad it turned out well, particularly because I ended up totally burning the soup I’d made for dinner and we had to call for pizza…..!
I was moved to butterscotch pudding during our rain last week and took matters into my own hands because I’ve not been totally satisfied with most that I’ve tried ( dare I say even your cornstarch version?..okay I dared!) They’ve all been too unbutterscotchy and light and had a slightly curdled/grainy looking texture. I melted 2 Tbs of the butter added the brown sugar and 1 Tbs dark corn syrup and 1 Tbs of water and cooked the water out of it and continued to cook it until darker than the usual recipe. It worked..that corn syrup smoothed out that grainy texture like a champ and the water helped the sugar melt better. Plus I added 2 egg yolks at the end of cooking to further enrich the pudding. To finish I added 2 more Tbs of butter, spilled in the rum and vanilla. Perfection..it was deeper in color and flavor and it stood up to the flavor I’d always looked for in Butterscotch pudding.
May I ask why you didn’t use your own easy Butterscotch sauce instead of caramel sauce to top this?
PS: the cornsyrup is used in fudge recipes to help with the proper crystallization of the sugar, which is why I used it here and the dark syrup helped with the color, in this case. I imagine Light or Lyles golden syrup would work as well. 1 Tbs is plenty! (I even used 3 cups of milk..no cream at all as I was just making pudding. Next time I’ll try the topping to make it like this one.
I love the salted caramel on top as it adds a nice extra texture to the pudding too! Growing up in Panama we did not get pudding as a dessert so it was usually a flan custard with melted caramel on top. The pudding sounds much easier but here is my flan recipe to try: https://ethnicspoon.com/coconut-flan/
Yum! Pudding in the UK just refers to the dessert course – as in, “what’s for pudding?”.
Hey I’ll eat anything with the word LUXE in it :)
Just finished off the last ramekin of this and am already thinking about how soon I can get away with making it again. Like others, I got a bit nervous during the caramelizing phase and took it off the heat a little too soon, so the flavor wasn’t very intense. BUT we loved it so, so much as it was…especially because I made your hot fudge to put on top (dessert is really only dessert if there’s chcocolate involved, in my book), which was amazing. Finished with a sprinkle of sea salt and, my oh my, what a treat.
I’m a little intimidated by this but it looks so delicious I think I’m going to give it a try.
So, a few thoughts: I love love butterscotch pudding. I love love salted caramel. But I thought the caramel overwhelmed the butterscotch.
The pudding, for me, often is a little grainy (only butterscotch)- strained or unstrained. I typically use whole eggs, only milk, and had hoped this would be less grainy (also,with the longer cooking time of the sugar), but it was the same. Not sure what I am doing wrong. Oh well.
I find it much quicker to do the caramel dry, which I did, but otherwise followed the recipe. It’s always yummy.
Actually, I also struggle with penuche fudge as well. And because of that won’t buy store brand brown sugar. Maybe it’s that?
A little more knowledge and digression about budino: I grew up in Italy and for us a budino is something you can reverse on a plate, like a creme caramel.
A butterscotch pudding would translate in Italian as a “crema di butterscotch” as there is no translation for butterscotch.
This looks absolutely perfect! I think it’s going to be Camille’s after school treat today! :)
I made this tonight, and it was RIDICULOUSLY good. I used 2/3 cup of brown sugar, and found that even after 10 minutes on the stove, it didn’t give the pudding a super strong flavor, but adding a pinch or so of extra salt helped.
The pointers re: tempering the eggs with hot, but not boiling butterscotch were key; I didn’t bother straining my pudding, and it still ended up smooth.
I did make the salted caramel sauce and the whipped creme fraiche, and highly recommend both, but I did make a pretty intense, slightly bitter caramel just to temper the sweetness of the pudding a bit. My husband doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth, but this combo still left him scraping the bottom of the cup!! Thanks, Deb!!
Deb, my dark brown sugar, water and salt mixture started out very dark. It was very difficult to tell when it was carmelized because it was so dark and started smelling almost burnt pretty quickly (a ways away from the 8-10 min mark). I poured the heavy cream in because I was afraid it was going to burn but it didn’t splutter so it must have been too early. Is there a better way to ensure it reaches the proper stage of carmelization? Temp perhaps? Thanks!
Love this!
I had a problem, my pudding was not smooth, a bit grainy, what did I do wrong?
PS I swear I can cook!
PSS Really enjoy your recipes!
Oh my, oh my, oh my. This was SO GOOD! To be honest, I skipped all of the extras (no salted caramel, no whipped cream/mascarpone), and just enjoyed it in all of its butterscotch-y deliciousness. I admitted to myself right off the bat that I was not going to share it so I didn’t pour it into individual cups. All you need with this to enjoy it fully is one big old spoon!
Thank you so much for a really easy, fast, and amazingly decadent recipe! My only regret is that I may have to make it every week. And buy a new, stretchy, wardrobe…
Even with my cack-handed rumbling this turned out great. I didn’t have dark brown sugar and my caramel smelled almost burnt well prior to the recommended time (seven months into our new house; I should have a handle on the stove!), and I got some lumps. They were very soft but super visible (they weren’t scrambled eggs – I tempered!). And, sorry Deb, I ate this with de Ruijter chocolate sprinkles and Cool Whip. I was happy as a clam.
Add a spoon of (salted) caramel sauce to your morning coffee/latte. It’s definately more sugar than you need that early, but utterly delicious. ANNNnnnnnnd, if your making this for a special event, you may need the next morning ;)
Wow these look incredible!
Flawless results and not that much effort considering how wonderfully smooth and flavorful this is. My husband who loves butterscotch says this beats everything I’ve made, including my maple-bacon caramels!
I love the butterscotch color of this pudding. I always make the simple egg pudding because my kids love it. This is an interesting new idea which I will try soon and surprise my kids! I know they will love it!
Great recipe! It was my first time making such a decadent dessert. Mine came out delicious, and the week after I made it the first time, I made the caramel sauce a second time to serve over vanilla ice cream.
Pudding recipe is good for children and for some elders as well who are not on diet.
For Passover, swap the cornstarch for potato starch. Use about 1/3 less potato starch for the same thickening power that cornstarch has.
Great Pesach tip thanks Ellen.
I really liked the flavours in this recipe. However, I wasn’t able to actually serve any as it was way too grainy.
I should have followed my instincts and made this like my usual custard recipe, where the milk mixture is hot, but never boiling. It’s just too hard to properly temper the eggs with boiling milk and you get clumps. Straining didn’t help.
I just made this pudding and have a couple comments.. after reading everyone’s story I think the graininess is due to pouring the boiling caramel into the egg mixture. Mine began to clump up too and to smell eggy. I whisked like crazy and it smoothed out but next time I’ll let the caramel cool a little first. The pudding ended up delicious but tasted just a little of cornstarch and was a tad too salty. I’ll cut both some and cook longer to get the cornstarch flavor out. No matter, the end result is so delicious and so EASY I’ll never bother with store bought again!
Hi Deb. I made this yesterday and it’s fabulous! A great recipe that is simple to do, with the result being much greater than the sum of its parts. Very sweet, very filling and totally yummy. Thank you from across the pond.
Thanks for the recipe, looks fabulous.
Made this last night… DELICIOUS! Thanks for getting this once upon a time baker back in the kitchen. Felt great!
I made these and they were delicious but a tiny bit grainy. Where did I go wrong?
It’s likely grains of egg yolk. The cure is to very slowly add the hot caramel mixture into the egg/cornstarch mixture, constantly whisking as you do, slowly increasing the temp of the eggs before adding them back into the saucepan to make the pudding. You really can’t go too slowly with that.
Thanks!
Amazing! Made this for a cabin full of friends and everyone loved it! I made it two days ahead of time and the flavor got intensely better by Saturday when we ate it! I actually didn’t think it tasted like butterscotch much at all the morning after I made it. But by Friday night and Saturday it was awesome! I got a little scared because my cream didn’t have a super dramatic sizzle when I added it to the butter and sugar but still turned out awesome! Although, I did throw out my first batch of butter/sugar/cream because i think I added the cream before the sugar got hot enough. So be patient! Also, I had my egg mixture all ready to go so that when my cream/sugar/butter mixture was done I could get right to tempering my eggs and it worked beautifully! The instructions were very helpful! Thanks for another wonderful recipe Deb!
I love this! Dairy, sugar, no list of calories, just enjoy food. Finally. In a world of Whole30, Paleo, Vegan, whatever diet of the week…a blog, devoted to food that tastes good, and feels good.
The absolute best, make ahead, unctious dessert I have ever made!
Thank you!!
Regarding another comment about not bring able to find Diamond kosher salt – I highly recommend Penzey’s kosher salt, which is available online at their website. It has the same sodium level as Diamond. I have been making recipes of Deb’s since her early days of blogging, and have always used Penzeys and everything comes out great.
Thanks for the tip.
Hi deb! Love you blog. I’m making a cake for a baby shower and wanted to make a butterscotch filling more like a pastry cream? how could you suggest I adapt this recipe for a cake filling? Your input would be great to help meet the cravings of a very pregnant sister!
Usually you’d want to use less liquid dairy or more cornstarch to make it thicker. You could probably tweak this as needed.
I made this, and it turned out beautifully, but was just not my cup of tea. So rich, so sweet, so uniformly creamy. I loved the pudding, and might try it again by itself with some sliced bananas .
Just made this with an added tbsp. of corn starch because I intend to use it as pie filling. The flavor is decent, though not quite as butterscotchy or dark as I’d like (and I left the sugar mixture to bubble for a full 10 minutes.) I strained my pudding when it was finished because I could definitely see some corn starch clumps, and it still feels a little grainy for my taste.
I’ve had the famed Butterscotch Budino at the casual (phenomenal) pizza joint next door to Mozza, and I’ve also nearly wept despite an amazing meal when I learned it wasn’t also available at the Mozza restaurant (lol)! It’s every bit as memorable as people say! I too have the Mozza cookbook that contains the recipe, but with its strainers and bowls of ice and rather large quantities, I’ve never attempted it. I made this SK dish today and, based on what I tasted off the spoon… ok, a few spoons, this is pretty spot on! I divided into four glasses (not because of all those spoonfuls I tasted– they’re generous servings!) and can’t wait to dig in!
For the commenters who say they didn’t get a good butterscotch flavor, I think the keys are 1) use a heavy-bottomed saucepan that distributes and holds the heat, 2) really wait until the brown sugar-water-salt mixture smells intensely caramelized, and 3) use the booze (I used brandy ’cause that’s what I had open). This one is a KEEPER!!!
The taste was DIVINE! I can’t not wait to make it again BUT how do I prevent the cooled egg chunky texture?! I whisked until I could whisk no more and continued to add butterscotch to egg mixture until bowl was very hot.. I just felt defeated and hope you have some great insight!
I meant COOKED egg not COOLED egg
Can you please let me know where you got the glasses?
Can’t wait to try this recipe!
Can you please let me know where you got the glasses?
Can’t wait to try this recipe!
Any way to make this with non dairy milk for those who are lactose intolerant?
I feel like this could work with a good fatty coconut milk.
I am thinking of using the left over egg whites to make meringue cookies to crumble on top for a bit of crunch
Thomas Keller had a restaurant in Caesars palace and he served the best butterscotch pudding in the bar with snickerdoodles on the side. Such a homey dessert.
I just may try this recipe, with snickerdoodles of course.
These look great! I’ll be sure to give them a try. Any reason why you don’t make one base caramel for both the pudding and the sauce? Is it because of the different sugars?
Yes.
DO you think I could make this with pectin or gelatin?
It’s not needed here to set it.
I made this last night for Valentine’s Day. I ended up with an odd texture — maybe too much air in the milk because I used a whisk to combine the milk and cream with the cooked sugar? It was frothy on top. Should I have been using a spoon until I got to the eggs? Also, do you have more tips on cooking the brown sugar? My first batch smelled burnt so I threw it out and started a new batch on lower heat. Hard to tell with brown sugar if it’s burning because it’s already brown!
Burnt flavor = burnt but melted sugar that smokes is not ruined; it’s how you get that toasty caramel flavor. Not sure about the whisk vs. spoon; I use a whisk here.
This came out gorgeous. I have had the pleasure of eating the Mozza version at the restaurant and whiles this one may pale (literally, the color) in comparison I find it delish. Like many others, I think I took my brown sugar mixture off the heat to soon in fear of burning, so the flavor was mild. However, when I made the sauce for the top a may have cooked it a little toooo long so I think the two together created a balance. I whipped 100% unsweetened creme fraiche as a garnish and it was a lovely contrast. Can’t wait to make it again.
Omg made this for my husbands bday (he didn’t want cake, weirdo) and it was heaven. The recipe came together easily and without a hitch!! No grainy issues, just as rich as mentioned and so delicious. Can’t wait to make it again!
I made this for my husband’s birthday since butterscotch pudding is his favorite!! I was disappointed that it didn’t have a very pronounced butterscotch flavor. Maybe I didn’t let it bubble enough (8 minutes) but I was worried about it burning. I used the amount of brown sugar listed in the recipe. If I make it again, I might try more. The salted caramel was amazing!
I made this yesterday. No issues with graininess. Burnt the first batch of sugar caramel for the sauce but just made another. I also had the mixture go frothy before adding the eggs and cornstarch. Still turned out smooth. But…after chilling, my pudding kind of separated and was slightly watery on the bottom. What did I do wrong?
This may be a silly question…can I substitute the cornstarch for tapioca flour? I have a ton of tapioca flour and am out of cornstarch at the moment. Will an equal amount thicken as well as cornstarch?
Not a silly question but I am not sure. Suggest asking Google.
I just haven’t tried it here. I definitely think you’d need less.
Trying to use up egg yolks.
Can I use all egg yolks instead of a whole egg? How many would I need to use?
For each whole egg you’re replacing, I’d use two yolks.
I haven’t tried the recipe yet, but it looks like it’s going to be a crowd pleaser! By way of both a question and a response to the problem of cooking the brown sugar enough or too much, I have always found brown sugar caramel to be finicky at best. I prefer to make caramel with white sugar and cook until nice and golden, then add molasses at the end after the butter and cream. Any thoughts on how this might affect the end result of the pudding?
It was difficult to judge the degree of caramelization because you are working with dark brown sugar. I actually decided when to stop the process based on the smell. The pudding was outstanding. I noticed other recipes for butterscotch pudding using dark brown sugar do not caramelize the sugar.
I did the same for the same reason…stopped based on the caramel aroma. It worked perfectly.
I haven’t added molasses before to white sugar, but I like the idea. I agree that brown sugar isn’t the easiest to caramelize (but it works, it’s just harder to see color changes). Let us know if you try it!
I’d there a way to save recipes to a folder on your site?
I’ve had my eye on this recipe for ages and decided today was the day — but five minutes into it, with the burner on med/high, the sugar smells very burnt. Keep going or start over? For some reason I’m afraid of burning sugar and it leading to some sort of fire. Would love your input, thanks!
A little toasty is fine. Very burnt, toss it.
I found something that takes the overly sweet edge off of this pudding..and it also seems to deepen the color just a tad.. 1 teaspoon of mild molasses. That’s it..a little goes a long way..and it does not make the pudding taste like it has molasses in it. Just thought I’d share in case anyone were interested.
My pudding turned out darker using the 2/3 of a cup dark brown sugar and I had to spoon it into the cups instead of pouring it. What did I do wrong there? I am at high-altitude so I’m not sure if that matters?
Hi Deb! I just made this (twice.. burnt the sugar on the first go ’round) and both times my milk solids separated. I used only whole milk, but I don’t know why that would matter. The mixture was just sugar, water, salt, and then the milk. Do you know why this happened? Still delicious, but an odd texture. Thank you so much!
I made the pudding this morning (it turned out great!), and made the caramel just now. Having a problem with it though–my fiancé is working on it as I type. Adding the cream after the butter isn’t the best way to make the caramel. The caramel hardened and now we’re trying to remelt it as we whisk to incorporate the cream. The cream really should have been added right away after the sugar browned, then add in the butter–we checked a YouTube video on how to make caramel. This is so frustrating!
I have made both of your butterscotch pudding recipes, both to rave reviews by my family and friends. This version is my favorite. Thanks for making me look good!!
Do you think I could half-and-half instead of cream in the salted caramel?
I haven’t tested it — it might work but I do worry it has more of a risk of splitting
Thank you! I’m hoping for success.
Update: it worked just fine! Hopefully this helps someone else in the future browsing through recipes.
For the pudding itself I probably should have cooked the sugar a little more, and I only have light not dark brown sugar. To make up for it, after I had stirred in the dairy, I added in a tiny dollop of molasses. Turned out delicious!
Oh, Deb. This was so salty. I’m guessing my mistake was in using Morton’s kosher salt vs Diamond brand? Lesson learned.
Oof — so sorry. You’ll have to make a second batch with no salt and combine them. :)
Im impressed with the quality and well researched content written in this website.
We love this recipe. I prep all the ingredients in advance and it comes together perfectly. I haven’t tried the caramel in this recipe because I’m partial to your Paris one, which is delicious here (and everywhere). Yum yum – thanks Deb!
I had a possibly brilliant thought about the leftover sauce. I think I can use it to make the salted caramel pretzel blondies?
I’ve made this a few times now to great success, and I think part of that is being willing to let the sugar burn a little before adding the cream. Basically, once I see it smoking (ie burning) I let it sit for 30 seconds and then add the cream. This usually happens around the 9 minute point for me after it’s started bubbling. Occasionally, this may result in tiny burnt butterscotch flecks in the pudding that I could strain out or leave (it has never been grainy or tasted burnt so I just leave it if that happens), but it’s worth it because it’s not too sweet in the end. I also use Kahlua (coffee rum liqueur) for the 2 teaspoons of rum. This also helps curb the sweetness with the bitter and roasty notes of the coffee.
I’m reading this during Thanksgiving 2020; shut in the house, recovering from Covid. And planning something to cook when I feel able. And I laughed myself to coughing by the idea that there would ever be a speck of homemade caramel left over to go to waste! What a lovely post and recipe. Thanks for cheering me up today.
I hope you’re feeling better soon!
Mozza in LA serves their butterscotch pudding dessert with rosemary shortbread I believe, I remember it was amazing.
So I think I would skip the caramel and make a slightly salty rosemary shortbread cookie to go with it when I get around to making this. Looks amazing, thanks Deb.
I made this, and it’s quite tasty…the rum extract adds a nice layer I wouldn’t have thought of! I’ve never made pudding before, though, and feel like my texture could be smoother/creamier. It’s just the slightest bit chalky…I wouldn’t call it gritty, just not entirely creamy. I only had a fork, so maybe a whisk would’ve made a difference? Thank you!
I figured out something to do with the left over salted Carmel. Nomnom
I made this tonight for a dinner party. It was unbelievable! Everyone loved it and said it was just as good as the butterscotch pudding at a high-end Toronto restaurant.
I used a simple whipped cream topping with no added sugar.
Don’t let the caramel cook too long! It can burn easily. When you think it’s just short of amber coloured, pull it off the heat.
Is there a specific temperature the brown sugar caramel should be cooked to? Precision is more my style ;)
I have had the one at Mozza so many times and LOVE it. I want to try this one tomorrow night, because I agree– that process is outrageous and worth paying $9 instead. What do you think about Disaronno (amaretto) instead of rum?
Fourth time making this. Another sk hit. Somehow you make recipes that seem intimidating a breeze. And delicious! Have included this in some meal deliveries to new parents lately to rave reviews. Thanks for another favorite.
I’d been trying for several years to duplicate my mother’s butterscotch pudding. I’d ordered it once at a restaurant, and found it disappointingly wan, so I needed to figure out how to make the real thing. This recipe got me on the right track, so on the second try I added a couple more egg yolks, added the butter directly to the hot caramel so it would brown in pan and give off its nutty goodness before adding the cream. I used half cream and half milk. In the end, the intensity wasn’t quite there, so I punched it up with a couple of tablespoons of blackstrap molasses just before the final cooking – sort of an essence-of-butterscotch. It put my pudding over the top. I served it to my sister a couple of week ago, and it was an emotional experience for us both.
Could we triple the recipe?
Yes, absolutely.
I really love this blog. I’ll also bookmark it for the future. Such great information about food thank you so much. I’ll also give your link in my site coin master free spins
Can the luxe butterscotch pudding be put in a blind baked pie shell and topped with meringue, then browned in oven?
I love this idea!
I made this yesterday for my daughter. It got brown very quickly and, fearing it would burn, I took it off before I could smell caramel. It was good but not as much lux butterscotch flavor as I expected.
I’m assuming I didn’t cook it long enough.
Any suggestions would be welcome.
Thanks
This is absolutely decadent and delicious. Recipe works to perfection as usual ! Highly recommend if you love salted caramel. It’s worth the effort.
Pudding is great and was no trouble. Salted caramel seized on me three times so I sought out a recipe that did not call for water in the initial sugar melting phase. Worked much better.
Corn starch will always be gritty no matter how well you whisk it. Tapioca flour is a superior substitute 1:1
I made this tonight. I wasn’t able to chill it for more than an hour and a half before it was served and also I came back into the kitchen after putting the glasses outside to cool and found the butter still waiting to be whisked in. Despite these setbacks the pudding was lovely, and very easy to make.
PS I didn’t make the salted caramel and didn’t miss it. This will be going into a butterscotch trifle next weekend.
I made it, and loved the flavors. However, it would have been helpful to know the brand of salt used in the original recipe. I used 1/2 heaping teaspoon of Morton course kosher salt and it was far too salty.
This was sadly a disappointment. I did exactly as the recipe said and somehow my dark brown sugar/water/salt was burnt in 5-6 minutes time (and I had it on medium heat/not medium high as suggested!). If I endeavor to make this again I’ll definitely watch this step like a hawk so I don’t miss out on the caramel stage/end up with sour/burnt mess again.
Deb, you are miraculous. I’ve never made butterscotch before, and never successfully made caramel before. But yesterday I hosted a small celebration for a dear friend’s birthday and her favorite flavor is butterscotch, so I went for it. Since I usually destroy caramel, I was pretty timid about cooking the brown sugar & water and used medium heat, so when I added the cream and milk the mixture was very, VERY pale yellow and smelled like only a suggestion of butterscotch. My solution was to break out a smaller pan and cook 2 Tbs of water and 1/4 c brown sugar at medium high, then add that into the larger pan. It worked great. I should also note that in the first pan I went with closer to 3/4 c brown sugar, because intensity. I didn’t use any liquor in the recipe. No graininess, but because I was adding the extra caramelized brown sugar, there was a lot of heating and stirring, so maybe that took care of it. I did have an issue with the salted caramel setting really fast once I added the cream to it, and had to spend a long time heating and stirring that too, finally using a fork to scoop out the final few stubborn chunks (didn’t occur to me that I could put something that thick through a strainer!). Next time I’ll put a bit less caramel on the pudding, as the whole thing was so rich that a couple people couldn’t finish their whole cup (I refrained from talking smack, and they took the leftovers home). Thank you for helping me give my friend a luxurious birthday treat!!
Like many others, I could not tell when the caramel was done since it was dark brown and smelled burnt as soon as it began to bubble. I ended up not having much of a butterscotch flavor in the final pudding but the texture was really great. This dessert was a treat for the hubs’ birthday, and I had been considering making a whisky whipped cream from an old Epicurious recipe that he really likes for the top, and the comment above about including scotch in the pudding instead of rum convinced me. Scotch whipped cream was a nice complement to the pudding (I didn’t make the salted caramel.)
I made a double batch of these, and there were so delicious! But the caramel topping never set. What did I do wrong? It was extremely runny.
why doesn’t this recipe specify to dissolve the cornstarch in a bit of cold water or milk? Granted, I should have known better, but it was a long day and I wasn’t thinking. It separated into tiny grainy granules and produced a pretty gross and lumpy mess that wasted $20 of supplies :(
Oh God, Deb, what did I do? My pudding turned out thick and the texture was not pudding like, it wasn’t silky or velvety. It had more the airy quality of mousse and did not taste very butterscotchy. Did I mix it too much or too vigorously? I used the ingredients as specified and tempered the eggs. Nope! The bubbling brown sugar did not hiss at me when I added the cream. Egads. I’m going to try your simple butterscotch recipe and see if that works out better.
This recipe has been fail proof for me, and a favorite that I make on repeat. Never thought I’d be the kind of person who makes homemade pudding or homemade candy, thank you for making things so accessible!
Fantastic recipe, thanks so much! I love love the little comments about trouble shooting and expectations with something as fussy as caramel. I would have had many more panic moments without them. but with this recipe (tripled), I made an easy dessert for a dinner party to RAVE reviews. Delicious!
Just made this and wanted to chime in since I found the recipe to be quite quick and easy, and didn’t run into the issues described in the comments. Maybe I got lucky! I did tweak the recipe to accommodate using the rest of the heavy cream in my fridge – halving the recipe and using 1 whole egg, 1/3 C heavy cream, and 2/3 C milk. Obviously less rich than the original but still delicious. Served with creme fraiche to cut the sweetness (which I liked but my husband preferred without).
When covering with plastic, does the plastic need to touch the pudding directly to avoid the skin? (Like with pastry cream)
Yes… well, no, but if it doesn’t touch the skin, condensation usually forms underneath and it will seem wet when you open it.
unlike other recipes, this one did not call for putting the hot mixture through a fine strainer. I wish I had done that because I have a few DEVASTATING lumps. Flavor is fabulous, color is right on the mark….but lumps…..