Maple Pudding w/spiced pecans

We are big maple fans in this house – we even go to the yearly maple festival to visit local maple farms.  You’ll never find a bottle of that ‘fake’ syrup in this house – I can promise that! 

So for my husbands birthday this year I wanted to make something that I knew we would both enjoy – but I didn’t want 3/4 of a cake left-over in the fridge.  So pudding is the perfect solution!  Since his birthday was on a weeknight – I made these the night before so they could set-up in the fridge and whipped up the pecans just before serving. 

W.O.W is all I can say – this is an awesome dessert.  I really liked the crunch that the pecans lent to the pudding.  And homemade pudding is so easy to make – really – its not that much harder than the cook-and-serve brand in the box.  Enjoy!

Ingredients

For the pudding:

• 3 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• Salt

For the spiced pecans:

• 2 tsp. sugar (I used maple sugar!)
• 1/2 cup pecans
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Salt
• 2 tsp. unsalted butter

Directions

1.  For the pudding: In a small bowl, whisk the cornstarch and 1 teaspoon of milk together until smooth.

2.  Place the remaining milk into a medium saucepan and add the cornstarch/milk mixture, whisking until smooth.  Whisk in the maple syrup and a pinch of salt.

3. Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer, stirring frequently.

4. As soon as the mixture begins to thicken (a couple of minutes), remove it from the heat and pour into a medium bowl or four ramekins.

5. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled and set. (1-2 hours or so.)

6. For the spiced pecans: In a small skillet over medium heat, cook the sugar and pecans, stirring frequently, until the sugar is melted and the pecans are browned, about 5 minutes.

7. Stir in the cinnamon, a few gratings of nutmeg, a pinch of salt, and the butter.

8. As soon as the butter is melted and has coated the nuts, remove from the heat and pour the nuts onto a plate to cool.

9.  Place about 2 tablespoons of the nuts on each portion of maple pudding and serve.

Source: Herbivoracious as seen on The Curvy Carrot

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