Butterscotch pudding is a dessert made from a type of baked custard and richly flavored with vanilla and brown sugar. It is a favorite among those who enjoy homemade pudding due to the uniqueness of the butterscotch flavor. While plenty of pudding batches can be made quickly and easily from pre-packaged mixes, dedicated home bakers recommend baking butterscotch pudding from scratch at least once. This kind of homemade butterscotch dessert can sometimes take a bit of practice and attention to temperature, so the novice baker should often check recipe instructions at least a few times during the process.
Some home cooks can occasionally confuse the meaning of custard versus pudding. The only real difference in the case of homemade pudding is the use of cornstarch as a thickening agent, allowing the finished dessert to be eaten in generous bites with a spoon. The trick to successfully mixing cornstarch into butterscotch pudding is to make sure this ingredient is thoroughly blended with everything else. Lumps of unmixed cornstarch in a heated pudding mixture can create an unpleasant taste and can even burn if the stove temperature is too high.
Additional ingredients in many butterscotch pudding recipes include eggs, milk, butter, and vanilla extract. Most experienced bakers claim that real rather than imitation vanilla extract should be used if possible. Some debate can exist between some bakers as to whether light or dark brown sugar results in the best butterscotch flavor, though this idea is usually a matter of individual preference. Adding only egg yolks to the pudding mixture is usually the general rule, so a newcomer to baking may need to first practice a bit at separating the eggs.
The most popular method of baking butterscotch pudding is to do so in a stove top pot rather than in an oven because the pudding needs to be stirred frequently. Many recipes instruct the baker to begin heating the creamed egg yolks and sugar over medium heat after adding in the cornstarch and milk. One problem that can sometimes occur is scorching of the milk; it may help if the cook first coats the bottom of the pot with a small amount of cold water to prevent this. The butterscotch pudding should usually be brought to a slow boil before being removed from the stove. Many cooks report that mixing in the butter last results in the best texture.
