Homemade Vanilla Pudding

When I was a child, my mother would make chocolate or vanilla pudding as a treat. I’m pretty sure that it came from a box, but it was rarely ‘instant’. The chocolate pudding of my childhood was thick and creamy with a wonderful ‘skin’ on top.

I can remember the warm comfort of it after dinner on cold winter nights, when mom would serve it before putting it in the fridge to cool. And I recall the delicious, cold thickness of it on hot summer days when she made it in the morning and cooled it in the fridge for an afternoon snack.

I recreated this treat from scratch for my own children, but the amount of refined sugar that my recipe called for was simply too much for my liking after we began our real food journey. After a couple of tries using natural sweeteners, however, I was able to come up with pudding recipes that are both delicious and healthy.

The pudding cups you’ll find in the grocery store contain the following ingredients: Non Fat Milk, Water, Sugar, Modified Corn Starch, Vegetable Oil (contains one or more of the following: Palm Oil, Partially Hydrogenated Palm Oil, Sunflower Oil, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil), Less than 2% of: Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Color Added (including Yellow 5 and Yellow 6).

What? Why?!

My homemade vanilla pudding contains healthy whole milk, eggs, maple syrup, arrowroot powder, salt, butter and vanilla. It’s got plenty of fat to keep your little ones’ brains on target and their tummies full. (Still scared of saturated fat? Find out why you should stop that right now.)

My homemade vanilla pudding recipes uses lovely, Grade B maple syrup as the sweetener. Not only does it impart a lovely flavor, but it retains the nutrients naturally found in maple syrup so that your body doesn’t have to rob your bones for minerals to digest it. Keep in mind that even natural sweeteners should be used in moderation. Natural sweeteners should comprise no more than 5% of your caloric intake.

Here is my recipe for nutrient-dense vanilla pudding. Check out my recipe for nutritious chocolate pudding, as well. Enjoy this comforting dessert with your family today.

Homemade Vanilla Pudding

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Ingredients

2.75 cups of milk Whole, raw, grass-fed is preferable, but not necessary to make the recipe.
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup of maple syrup
4 tablespoons of arrowroot powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons of butter
3 tablespoons of vanilla

Instructions

Wisk together the milk, egg yolks, maple syrup, arrowroot powder and salt in a large saucepan and heat over a medium heat.
Stir continuously as the mixture thickens. This usually takes about 7-10 minutes. Do not overheat or burn the mixture!
When the mixture coats the back of a spoon, remove it from the heat.
Stir in the butter and vanilla.
Pour the pudding into individual containers and eat it while warm or put in in the refrigerator to cool and form a wonderful "skin".