At the risk of being Madame Overkill, I’m here again to talk about dessert. I’ve been into dessert lately, which is weird, because generally I could care less about it. Like, less and less all the time. Until bam! About a month ago, the dessert bug struck, and I’ve been sort of unstoppable. I mean, people, this is bad. Because I have enough vices already, thankyouverymuch. I have always been pleased that sugary afterthoughts were not among them.

But it’s not just any dessert (and no, I’m not pregnant — stop that.) that’s captured my imagination. It’s caramel. I know, I know, I talked about caramel last week. But guess what? This space? It’s where I write about what I’m cooking. And lately, that’s had a lot to do with caramel. I haven’t been particularly inventive or inspired when it comes to dinner. I’ve been on a “traditional fall” kick, wherein I have banged out chicken and noodles, chili, grilled cheese and tomato soup, pot roast and the like. And all of that has been fine, but it’s nothing new under the sun. I’ve been sort of into the “no brainer” dinner — because my attention, like a 15-year-old girl at a high school mixer, have been easily lured away from my first love. That is to say, dinner got ditched for something smoother and sexier. Dinner, my nice steady, has had to go sulk in the corner for awhile while I work this caramel thing out of my system. Dinner, Honey, Mama will be back — she’s just got a little dallying to do.

It all really started after the salted caramel mocha debacle. Because I got to thinking after that about a creme caramel dish Lindsey served me a year ago.

Lindsey’s Creme Caramel

For the custard:

5 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the caramel
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup water

Start by setting some water to boil in a kettle or saucepan and preheating the oven to 350 degrees.

Then make the caramel. Just bring the two ingredients to a boil (Slowly. Don’t burn the stuff.) and stir.

http://www.lawrence.com/users/meganstuke/photos/2011/oct/5/222134/

http://www.lawrence.com/users/meganstuke/photos/2011/oct/5/222135/

Then pour the mixture into your cute little baking custard cups. Set it aside to cool.

http://www.lawrence.com/users/meganstuke/photos/2011/oct/5/222136/

http://www.lawrence.com/users/meganstuke/photos/2011/oct/5/222137/

Then make the custard. Heat the milk and vanilla extract almost to a boil, and set it aside for a moment.

Then whisk the rest of the ingredients together (about 2 minutes) and then slowly temper them with the milk mixture so as not to curdle the eggs.

http://www.lawrence.com/users/meganstuke/photos/2011/oct/5/222139/

Then pour the mix into the custard cups.

http://www.lawrence.com/users/meganstuke/photos/2011/oct/5/222138/

http://www.lawrence.com/users/meganstuke/photos/2011/oct/5/222140/

Bake the cups in a bath of the water you heated before for about 45 minutes. Cool for at least two hours before serving. When you’re ready to serve, use a small knife around the edges of the cup to loosen the custard, and then flip them onto a small plate. Garnish with a strawberry or some lemon zest, or whatever cute thing you have laying around. Except, not a kitten. Kittens are cute, but not great garnish.

So I was thinking about Lindsey’s creme caramel, but it’s one of those things that takes, like, half a day to really do right, and I haven’t really had that kind of time or stamina lately. So I resorted to the next best thing…caramel pudding. This, my friends, is surprisingly easy to do at home. We whipped it up during the course of making some chicken and noodles for the men folk one night and had ourselves a nice little treat at the end of that heap of starch and salt. I apologize for the lack of photos, but I didn’t really expect it to come out so well I’d want to share it with you. But seriously, it is so good and so simple, I can’t resist.

Weeknight Caramel Pudding

2 cups milk
2 cups half and half
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water

Mix a half a cup of milk with the vanilla, salt, and cornstarch.

Then start your caramel. Just set the sugar and water over medium heat and let it begin to boil, about 10 minutes or so. When it starts to change to an amber color, remove from heat and gradually whisk in the rest of the milk. Put the mixture back on the stove and stir to dissolve the caramel again. Simmer about 10 minutes. Then gradually introduce the cornstarch mixture, stirring your heart out to avoid lumps, about one minute. Then you can pour it into your bowls. And there it is — caramel pudding. DEELIGHTFUL.

I want to make it every night. But I don’t. Well, you don’t know. Maybe I don’t.