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Homemade Vanilla Pudding

📍 Spain
⏱️Prep: 10 min
🔥Cook: 15 min
Total: 25 min
🍽️6 servings
Difficulty: Easy

Homemade vanilla custard is the most beloved milk-based dessert in Spanish home cooking: a smooth cream made with egg yolks, whole milk, sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla, cooked gently until thickened. Served cold in individual bowls with a María biscuit on top and a dusting of cinnamon, it is lighter than pastry cream and less dense than flan — the ideal unassuming end to a long meal.

🛒 Ingredients

6 servings
  • 500ml whole milk
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 80g sugar
  • 20g cornstarch
  • 1 vanilla bean or extract
  • Maria cookies for decoration
  • powdered cinnamon

👨‍🍳 Step-by-step instructions

  1. Infuse the milk with the opened vanilla bean over low heat for 10 minutes.

  2. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar and cornstarch until a homogeneous cream is obtained.

  3. Pour the hot milk, strained, over the egg yolks slowly, mixing.

  4. Return to the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens.

  5. Distribute in glasses. Chill for 2 hours. Place a Maria cookie and sprinkle with cinnamon.

💡 Chef's tip

Don't leave the pudding unattended while it's cooking: if lumps form, use a hand blender directly in the saucepan.

📝 Our take

Homemade vanilla custard is technically an egg-thickened custard: the difference from the carton version lies in the genuinely silky texture versus the gummy, starch-stabilised one. Temperature is the only risk: above 82°C the yolks scramble and lumps appear. Low heat and patience—a thermometer helps—and you won't go wrong.

🍷 Wine & food pairing

A lightly sweet wine like a chilled Moscatel de Alejandría. Or simply on its own, with a Maria biscuit on top.

Suggested wine: Cava Brut or Moscatel from Valencia

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