This smooth and creamy vegan butterscotch pudding might be better than its dairy counterpart. With just a few simple ingredients, you can have this made in no time!
My 6 year-old daughter has a few obsessions: Shopkins, reading and butterscotch pudding. Whenever we go out to run errands, she has to bring a book to read in the car. If it’s late at night, she’ll turn on the light so she can read quietly to herself. She always like to point out Shopkins-branded items at stores and ooh and ahh over the newly released editions or characters while I discreetly roll my eyes and watch my bank account balance drop.
Her newest obsession is butterscotch pudding. I’ve made it for her before, and she was so smitten with it that I hear about it on a weekly basis. “Mom! Can we make butterscotch pudding?” I finally gave in one Sunday morning but didn’t realize that we were out of milk. All I had left in the refrigerator was soy milk. No problem – I decided to make an almost vegan version instead.
Addie was so excited about her butterscotch pudding that she stopped reading her book and came over to help. She’s all enough where she can reach the stove without using a step stool so she helped me mix all the ingredients together. I’d stop and ask her if the pudding was ready yet, and she astutely would tell me no and that the pudding was too watery. I took over the stirring and told her once the pudding had firmed up. Her little eye lit up and she was super excited.
After we stirred in the (regular) butter and vanilla extract, I poured the pudding into mini bowls to place in the refrigerator. There was a little bit left over so I made her a little bowl for being such an excellent helper. She ate this up in about 1 spoonful and was happy to brag to her daddy about her new dessert.
My husband tried some later that evening and remarked that this actually tasted better than the non-vegan version. That’s a pretty bold statement since he gets a bit weary about my healthy substitutions in desserts. I hope you enjoy this and get to make it with a loved one – I had a blast making this with Addie and look forward to sharing more time with her in the kitchen.
Vegan butterscotch pudding
Ingredients
- 3 Tablespoons cornstarch
- ¾ cups dark brown sugar packed
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 and ¼ cups milk of choice I used unsweetened soy milk, divided
- 1 Tablespoon dairy-free soy margarine softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a medium sized saucepan, mix together the cornstarch, sugar, salt and ¼ cup of the milk until well blended.
- Place the saucepan on the stove over medium heat. Stir constantly until the sugar is dissolved. Slowly stream in the remaining milk. Keep stirring until the mixture starts to thicken, at least 3-5 minutes.
- Turn the stove off, remove the pan from the heat and add in the margarine and vanilla. Whisk thoroughly until the pudding is smooth and uniform.
- Transfer the pudding into individual ramekins or cups and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until cool before serving.