In the midst of one of the best and busiest weeks in work history, I couldn’t help but day dream about a strawberry and walnut dessert. I was obsessed. So instead of coming home from work and tackling piles of laundry from HLS, I decided to pretend clothes didn’t exist and experiment with pastry. Normal, right?
I thawed a pastry shell and sliced what seemed like a million strawberries. I placed the pastry shell in a tart pan, covered the pastry with two dense layers of strawberries, sprinkled with chopped walnuts, and then… poured brown sugar pudding over everything. It looked perfect. I put it in the oven, so excited for what was about to happen.
And twenty-five minutes later, I had the tastiest, soupiest dessert ever. The strawberries released A TON of moisture while baking, which made me realize that quick cooking tapioca is mandatory when baking with berries and pudding. But, this experiment wasn’t a total loss. In fact, it wasn’t a loss at all because I discovered brown sugar pudding. And after tasting brown sugar pudding, I’m amazed that such a thing isn’t already a thing. I’m definitely anxious to recreate and share this strawberry walnut brown sugar pudding tart recipe, but in the meantime, brown sugar pudding is where it’s at!
FoodFash Brown Sugar Pudding
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons corn starch
3 cups coconut milk
4 egg yolks
1 tablespoon non-dairy butter (Earth Balance)
1-1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Mix brown sugar and corn starch together in a medium-sized pot. Stir in coconut milk and continue stirring over medium heat until mixture is thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for an additional two minutes. Beat egg yolks in a bowl and gradually add the milk mixture to the bowl, 1/4 cup at a time, stirring constantly. Add the egg mixture to the rest of the milk mixture, bring to a boil, and cook and stir for another two minutes. Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla. Place in a sealable bowl and refrigerate until cool.