Homemade Vanilla Pudding

1. Homemade vanilla extract, 2. sugar, 3. Pure Milk, 4. worth it

Yesterday, I was craving pudding. You know, sweet and sticky. However, I just didn't think it was worth carting the kids and myself out to the store just for a package of Jell-O. Besides, have you ever glanced at the ingredient list on a Jell-O box? Try pronouncing some of them.
So I thought, "How hard could it be?".

Turns out, it's not trivial. Most recipes involve eggs, double boiling...... too much work!

However, I did stumble on a cornstarch recipe on allrecipes.

Like always, I tinkered with the directions, because I did not think that dumping cornstarch into boiling milk was a stellar idea (Aha... years of making Chinese stir fry comes into play)

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon butter

DIRECTIONS

1. In medium saucepan over medium, heat 1 cup of milk until bubbles form at edges. In a bowl, combine sugar, cornstarch and salt. Add 1 cup cold milk into the bowl. Stir like crazy to combine. Pour the mixture into hot milk.
2. Continue to cook and stir until mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. Do not boil. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and butter. Pour into serving dishes. Chill before serving.

I found it a tad sweet, but the kids lapped it up. Next time, I will reduce the sugar by 1/4 -1/2 cup.
There you go! Easy peasy!