Vanilla "Chai" Pudding

Who doesn't love a good pudding?  It may be a humble dessert (until you caramelize the top), but there's something rich and comforting about a bowl of pudding.  Another bonus: it is easy to make at high altitude, unlike baked goods.

However, the instant mix in the grocery store doesn't exactly pack a lot of nutritional punch.  Its one claim to healthiness is that it is high in calcium (because you mix it with milk).  But the powder itself is a little lacking, and definitely not a "real food." *

I've dabbled in various custards the last few years, including a "baby custard" at the Weston A. Price Foundation website that doesn't have any grains or egg whites in it.  It had delicious flavor, but thus far most of my grain-less puddings have cooked too fast or too long and scrambled the eggs to a quiche-like consistency.  Yuck.

I recently discovered a really delicious chocolate pudding recipe at Penniless Parenting that includes a little bit of cornstarch to help the pudding keep a nice consisency.  However, my kids are always eager to try whatever pudding I make, and I would rather not fill them with caffeine from the cocoa.  So I tried a new and delicious non-chocolate variation that (wow!) turned out well!  It doesn't actually contain any chai tea, but the flavor is almost identical to the classic coffeehouse drink.

My one beef with this pudding is that the milk in it gets cooked... so even if you start with raw milk, you end up basically pasteurizing it as you cook it.  To avoid that cooked milk, my next pudding project will be this fantastic-sounding raw banana pudding created by Melissa at Dyno-Mom.


Ingredients:
3 c milk
1/4 c sugar (or sucanat/Rapadura)
1/4 c corn starch (or potato starch)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
3 eggs

Directions:
Stir milk, corn starch, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger in saucepan over low heat, until no lumps remain.  Continue to heat and stir until mixture begins to thicken.  In small bowl, stir eggs quickly.  When milk mixture has begun to thicken, put one spoonful of milk mixture into eggs and stir quickly.  Then pour egg mixture all at once into saucepan and stir quickly.  Cook, stirring continuously, until pudding just starts to bubble.  Remove from heat and pour into individual serving dishes.  Cover and refrigerate if desired.

*Ingredients of Jello Brand Instant Pudding: Sugar, Modified Food Starch, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Salt, Disodium Phosphate and Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate (For Thickening), Mono- and Diglycerides (Prevent Foaming), Artificial Color, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Bha (Preservative).


Posted at Penny pinching Party , Show Me What Ya Got , Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table  Tuesday Tasty Tidbits, Tasty Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, and Traditional Tuesdays