Most recently we enjoyed this dessert at Talula’s Garden in Philadelphia–just a pudding, but butterscotch flavor and cherries send it over the top. Restaurants garnish with caramel sauce and whipped cream–gilding the lily? Recipes are all over the internet, here’s mine. I never buy brown sugar, I just add molasses to cane sugar. In my mind, it doesn’t make sense to burn molasses, which is already burned, so I just add it to the milk/cream mix after the caramel has been made. Date molasses is hard to find, but if you do, you won’t regret the fruity flavor that complements the cherries–the real maraschino, used to garnish Manhattans.
From Harold McGee, I learned that caramelizing sugar with water enhances flavor. The sucrose molecules have more time to become glucose and fructose components and the resulting caramel has a more complex flavor.
200 grams granulated sugar (about one cup)
1/2 cup water
scant tsp sea salt
2 Tbs date (or other) molasses
4 cups mix of heavy cream and milk or half and half–try 3 cups cream with 1 cup milk, or 4 cups half and half, warmed.
2 eggs & 4 egg yolks
4 Tbs cornstarch
4 Tbs butter
1 Tbs vanilla or 1 Tbs scotch or brandy (or both if you like)
35 or so Luxardo cherries
Whisk the eggs, yolks and cornstarch together until perfectly smooth.
Heat the cream/milk in microwave until very warm.
Melt the sugar with water until it caramelizes over medium high heat. It should be quite dark. Swirl, don’t stir, while it is cooking. Watch it.
Add the warm cream mixture to the caramel and turn the heat to very low, allowing the caramel to dissolve. Stir in the molasses.
Pour about a cup of the hot caramel cream into the egg/starch mixture. This tempers the eggs and prevents them from curdling. Pour the tempered eggs/cream mixture back into the pot and whisk over medium low heat until it thickens–about 4 minutes. Take off the heat and whisk in butter, vanilla, scotch. Taste to see if it needs more salt. If I have salted grass-fed butter, I use that.
If the mixture has any lumps, strain through a mesh sieve. Stir occasionally as it cools to just warm room temperature. Drain cherries and stir into the pudding, then ladle into sherbet or other dessert glasses or bowls and refrigerate for up to three days. Garnish with whipped cream and serve with crisp cookies.
Natasha Saje 