By Blog readership growing, invited to write guest column for Charleston food magazine, food writing career emerging. The week was the life. The life was the cooking. The cooking was the love. And the love was the week, and the week was one of the weeks that stack together to become the years, and the years become the life, and the life is the woman at the stove who cooks and writes and loves and does not stop.
I made she-crab soup on Sunday — the anchor, the constant, the practice. The soup was perfect. The perfection was the practice. And the practice continues, one Sunday at a time, one bowl at a time, one life at a time, the woman stirring, the roux thickening, the kitchen warm, the family fed, the love alive.
The soup is always the anchor, but a Sunday this full — a magazine invitation, a career leaning forward into the light — deserved something sweet to close it. The kitchen was still warm, the family still gathered, and I wanted a dessert that asked the same things of me the soup does: presence, patience, a willingness to stand at the stove and stir. Coconut Cream Pudding has been that quiet coda for years, and on a week like this one, it tasted less like dessert and more like punctuation — the period at the end of a sentence I’m finally learning to trust.
Coconut Cream Pudding
Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 25 min + 2 hr chill | Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 1 can (13.5 oz) full-fat coconut milk
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut, toasted, for topping
- Whipped cream, for serving
Instructions
- Combine the base. In a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk together the coconut milk, whole milk, sugar, cornstarch, and salt until completely smooth with no lumps remaining.
- Cook until thickened. Set the saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, until the mixture thickens and just begins to bubble, 8—10 minutes. Do not walk away; constant stirring prevents scorching.
- Temper the egg yolks. Whisk the egg yolks in a small bowl. Slowly ladle about 1/2 cup of the hot pudding mixture into the yolks in a thin stream, whisking the entire time to prevent scrambling. Pour the tempered yolk mixture back into the saucepan.
- Finish cooking. Return the saucepan to medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 more minutes until the pudding is thick, glossy, and coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
- Portion and chill. Divide the pudding evenly among six individual serving cups or ramekins. Press a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of each portion to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until fully set and cold.
- Serve. Remove the plastic wrap and top each pudding with a dollop of whipped cream and a generous pinch of toasted shredded coconut. Serve immediately.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 275 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 17g | Carbs: 29g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 115mg