You know what I love? Pudding. Pudding is joy in gloopy form. Sweetness, smoothness, and another s-ness is the perfect dessert. It’s been one of my favorite comfort foods. And it’s easy to make.
You what I’m starting to loathe? Pumpkins. Pumpkins are seasonal food bullies that insist on invading everything from September through November, with an uptick in harassment taking place in October. And like a fool, I decided to make pumpkin dishes up until the end of this month.
You know what’s scarier? I can’t get rid of this stuff. I’ve baked two loaves of bread, made two batches of cookies, put it in my yogurt, made a half-ass, kind-of original drink with it, even dared to put it in some tea, and I still have a damn tub of the puree left over. Either I’m not using enough or this stuff is procreating in the freezer.
It needs to be destroyed. What can destroy hate but love? What do I love and that I conveniently mentioned earlier in this post? Pudding.
This pumpkin pudding from scratch from the Frugal Farm Wife was just what I needed. It looked simple, required a handful of ingredients, and it used up a lot of the puree that’s been haunting my freezer for the past few weeks. The perfume of spice and sugar as the concoction warmed in the saucepan made up for the fact that I was going to subject myself to more pumpkin pain.
It’s not an involved process. Pour in the ingredients, heat it up, stir until it’s thickened, add the vanilla last. But dissolving all the puree clumps was annoying, and even after the pudding had thickened, several tiny clumps remained. It doesn’t affect the texture or taste, but if you’re taking a photo for your little hobby food blog and want it to be flawless, it’ll probably rankle you.
Let me add that homemade pudding isn’t like the packaged stuff. It’s not going to be silky smooth. When I went to get some more the next day, flooded mini-craters pocked the pudding. But it’s nothing to worry about; just mix it all up again and order will be restored to the dessert.
Most important of all, it’s delicious. Warm or chilled, the spices are potent. Some bumpy texture, but it won’t ruin the sample. In fact, I enjoyed this so much, I’m going to forego the usual pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving and make another batch of this stuff.
Which means I’ll need more pumpkin puree. More pumpkin.
