Old-Fashioned Butterscotch Pudding

Use (2) tablespoons of cornstarch instead of (3). (3) tablespoons led to a really thick consistency.

I have never been able to boil eggs in a pudding, even after tempering them without getting a grainy texture that no amount of straining fully resolves. What I’ve learned overtime is changing up a few simple steps will much more reliably give me the pudding consistency that I’m looking for. Put the eggs in a bowl and add hot tapwater. Let sit until eggs don’t feel cold. Warm the milk and cream mixture in a Pyrex in the microwave. Measure out cornstarch into a separate Pyrex while the milk cream mixture is warming. Add about a half a cup of the milk/cream mixture slowly into the cornstarch while whisking to avoid lumps. Then combine with the remainder of the milk/cream mixture, and add salt. Melt tablespoon of butter in a medium pot, then add about half of the brown sugar, letting it dissolve in the melted butter. Then add the remainder of the sugar and perhaps a teaspoon of hot water if needed to allow the sugar to become liquid. Then continue to heat until the mixture just about boils and the sugar is dissolved. Very slowly pour a small amount of milk into the sugar mixture and stir. Continue to add very small amounts of the milk cream mixture until fully incorporated. Then temper your eggs with about three-quarter cup of the pudding mixture. Pour those tempered eggs back into the pudding uncooked until mixture just resumes boiling. Add your vanilla and optional alcohol and then put through a sieve into a bowl. I like to add another tablespoon of butter for glossiness.

I tripled the recipe for a large dinner party and it came out perfectly. I want to thank all the commenters who wrote about not panicking when the sugar seizes up. For a second there, I thought I had wasted a dozen eggs. I just kept stirring snd stirring, and eventually, that layer of rock hard sugar on the bottom of my pan disappeared. Thank you!