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.