Chai Butterscotch Pudding

The ceviche recipe I posted a few weeks back felt like a great alternate way to use Masala Pop popcorn's Savory Coconut flavor. You know, other than grabbing handfuls out of the bag and stuffing it into my open maw. It's tasty stuff, and pretty different from other flavored popcorns on the market. When we received that sample, we also received two sweet flavors, Caramel Rose and Chai Caramel. The rose is subtle and not overly sweet, sorta kettle-corn-ish, and the chai is a caramel corn with a definite hit of chai spices. I like to create things with food samples, not just hawk them right out, and the first thing I thought of when I tasted the Chai Caramel popcorn, besides a cup of tea, was that it would make either a nice element in a cookie bar crust, or a great topping for a creamy pudding. One infused with the flavors of chai tea.

You can use any chai tea you'd like. I had some David's Tea chocolate chili chai, so I used that to infuse the milk for about half an hour while I walked the dog. (Multitasking!) Once the milk was infused with the chai flavor, I strained out the tea and proceeded to make the butterscotch pudding recipe in this post.

I must say, I was pretty pleased with the result. Depending on the brand of tea you use, the flavor might be a little intense, so you could cut down on the bourbon if you want. Or add more--that's entirely up to you. The popcorn mirrored the flavor of the pudding and added some much-needed texture. I dare say you could also use either of the sweet flavors of the Masala Pop on regular butterscotch pudding, or even vanilla. Possibly even chocolate, if you are so inclined.

Chai Butterscotch Pudding

2 cups whole milk
1 tablespoon loose chai tea or 2 tea bags
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided use
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons bourbon
Sea salt

Put the milk and tea in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Turn off the heat, cover the pan, and allow tea to steep in the milk for at least 30 minutes. If you used tea leaves, strain the milk before proceeding, otherwise remove and discard the tea bags.

Melt two tablespoons of the butter with the brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in one cup of the steeped milk. Whisk the cornstarch into the remaining cup of milk and add to the pot. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat and stir in the bourbon, the remaining tablespoon of butter, and a big pinch of sea salt. Refrigerate in a covered container until ready to serve, or if you have far more room in your fridge than I do, pour the hot pudding into individual bowls. If you don't like skin on your pudding, press a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding.

When ready to serve, spoon into bowls and garnish with a handful of popcorn.

Makes 4 servings.

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Butterscotch Bourbon Apple Bread Pudding

Every year, when Fall comes along, I have a strong urge to bake up a big dish of apple crisp. My mama used to make it pretty regularly, and I adored it. Still do. But, hubby isn't a fan. I know - he's weird. He loves apples, and will happily eat apple pie, but top those apples with a crumbly topping and it's game over.

A couple years back, I switched things up and tried an apple cobbler on him, but it still wasn't a favorite. No worries - that cobbler was so damn good, I ate it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner until it was gone, with absolutely no regrets.

This time, I put apples in a bread pudding. Mr Minx has no argument with those. I even sprinkled the top with a bit of brown sugar partway through baking in order to get a little crunch. He seemed to enjoy it just fine. So while it's not apple crisp, it was tasty and apple-y and fall-ish.

I used whole wheat bread, just shy of an entire grocery-store loaf. You can use what you like, from challah to baguette to plain old white bread. If you don't have apple cider and don't want to invest in it, then just use an extra cup of milk. Cider, however, gives the dish a more apple-y flavor. You can add some cinnamon, too, if that's your thing, but I preferred to taste the subtle butterscotch combo of brown sugar, booze, and salt.

Butterscotch Bourbon Apple Bread Pudding

3 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons brown sugar (divided use)
3 apples, peeled, cored, and diced
4 tablespoons bourbon
1 tablespoon heavy cream
Large pinch of sea salt
1/4 cup melted butter
1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup whole milk
1 cup apple cider
3 large eggs
Enough stale bread to fill about 8 cups

Heat oven to 350°F.

Melt butter and 3 tablespoons of the brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Add apples and toss well to coat. Add the bourbon and cream and cook for five minutes, until apple has softened a bit and the sauce is bubbly. Stir in the salt and remove from the heat.

In a large bowl, stir melted butter into condensed milk. Whisk in milk, cider, and eggs. Add the bread and press down on the mixture to ensure all of it is saturated with the milk mixture.

Place half of the mixture in a greased  9- or 10-inch springform pan. Top with half of the apples. Pour in remaining bread mixture and sprinkle with remaining apples.

Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle remaining tablespoon of brown sugar over top. Bake for an additional 20 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Allow to cool for a bit before cutting into wedges and serving. Softly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream is a nice touch, but not necessary.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Bananascotch Pudding

At last month's Family Meal media dinner, we ate the most delicious dessert: a twist on banana pudding made with butterscotch pudding. Just a few days later, I found an easy-sounding butterscotch pudding recipe on the Food 52 site. Entirely by accident--I wasn't looking for it. So it seemed that I was fated to make my own variation of banana scotch pudding.

I didn't want to do anything too elaborate; I am no pastry chef. My favorite nanner pudding recipe requires only pastry cream, shortbread cookies, bananas, and whipped cream. My banana scotch version is much the same, I just swapped out the pastry cream for butterscotch pudding. I think a really delish and over-the-top version might include both the pastry cream and pudding, maybe with a layer of whipped cream somewhere in the middle there, too. I didn't want to go crazy though--this is just a simple weeknight dessert.

There's booze in the pudding, folks, so you might want to keep it away from the kiddies.

Bananascotch Pudding 

8 Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
Pinch salt
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons bourbon or Irish whisky
3 bananas
Whipped cream
Flaky sea salt

Put the cookies in a plastic bag and crush them into crumbs. I used a meat tenderizer, but the bottom of a heavy glass will do. Divide half of the crumbs between four lowball glasses. Set the remaining crumbs aside. Peel and cut the bananas into 1/4" slices.

Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a sauce pan until it stops crackling and starts to brown, 2 minutes or so. Stir in the brown sugar and pinch of salt, then whisk in the heavy cream. Turn the heat to low.

In a bowl, whisk the milk into the cornstarch until cornstarch is dissolved. Pour this into the saucepan. Turn up the heat and allow the pudding to simmer, stirring constantly. Once pudding has thickened considerably, a minute or two, turn off the heat and add the additional tablespoon of butter, the vanilla, and the bourbon or whisky.

Spoon some of the hot pudding over the crumbs in each glass. Arrange a layer of banana slices around the edge of the glass, pushing them into the pudding so they stand upright. Put a slice or two, cut side up, in the middle as well. Add the remainder of the cookie crumbs. Repeat the pudding and banana layer, finishing with pudding. (If there's any pudding left, use a spoon to shovel it directly into your mouth.)

Press plastic wrap onto the surface of the puddings and refrigerate several hours until cold. Garnish with whipped cream and a pinch of flaky sea salt.

Serves 4.



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