blissful eats with tina jeffers: Salted Caramel Budino

Do you ever wonder where all your time goes?  There are weeks when I feel like I accomplish absolutely nothing but I feel like I’ve been running around non-stop.  I’ve officially become a Volvo driving soccer mom, when I was younger I never pictured myself carting kids around town, watching a bunch of 12 year olds playing basketball but that is essentially my life these days.  To be absolutely honest I never even thought I would have kids.

I didn’t have the greatest examples in my life when I was younger and had decided there was no way I wanted any part of marriage and babies, I just didn’t think I had it in me, that I was too selfish and ill equipped to handle those responsibilities.  Motherhood kind of blindsided me, we didn’t plan it, it just happened.  Life is messy and loud and obnoxious and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  Being a mom has taught me that I have to roll with the punches and most of the time put someone else’s needs before my own. 

My boys have a sweet tooth and while I don’t make dessert everyday when we indulge we go all the way.  This is decadence defined, a butterscotch pudding with a rich, creamy salted caramel.  It is really pretty easy to make as long as you are comfortable making caramel.  The trick to making caramel is to keep a close eye on it and handle it with a light touch.  The caramel sauce is amazing all by itself, the addition of the sour cream really helps temper the sweetness and is great on top of ice cream or with fresh fruit. 

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mom’s out there.  I’ll be enjoying a little bit of quiet from the chaos; at least I hope I will.  

Visit me at www.scalingbackblog.com during the rest of the week for more recipes and inspiration!

Salted Caramel Budino

Adapted from The NY Times

Ingredients:

For the budino:

3 cups heavy cream

1 1/2 cups milk

1 large egg

3 large egg yolks

4 tablespoons cornstarch

1 1/8 cups dark brown sugar

1 1/2teaspoons kosher salt

5 tablespoons butter

for the salted caramel sauce:

1/2 cup heavy cream

¼ cup water

scrapings from one vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

½ cup sugar

1 ¼ teaspoon Fleur de Sel  plus more for garnish

1/2 cup sour cream

Method:

For the budino, combine cream and milk in medium saucepan.  Heat until simmering and set aside.  Whisk egg, egg yolks and cornstarch in medium bowl, set aside.

Combine brown sugar, kosher salt and 1/2 cup water in pot. Place over medium-high heat and let sit until edges start to brown. Tilt pot as needed to even the browning until caramelized, nutty and deep brown, about 10 minutes.

Immediately whisk in cream mixture, mixture will steam and caramel will seize. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium. Whisk a cup at a time into egg mixture until half is incorporated. Remove from heat, and immediately whisk egg mixture back into pot until custard is very thick, about 2 minutes.

Whisk in butter. Pass through a fine mesh strainer and divide among 10 6-ounce ramekins. Cover with plastic wrap, allow to cool, and refrigerate until chilled, about 3 hours or up to 3 days.

For sauce, combine 1/2 cup of cream and the vanilla in medium saucepan. Heat until simmering and set aside.

Combine the sugar and corn syrup with 1/4 cup of water in a medium saucepan, stirring carefully so as not to splash the sides of the pan. Cook over high heat until an instant-read thermometer reads 350F or until the mixture is dark amber in color, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from the heat, and slowly add the cream, and then the Fleur de Sel. Whisk in the sour cream and set aside to cool.

To serve, spoon a tablespoon of warm caramel sauce over each budino and sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon fleur de sel.