~St. Patrick’s Vanilla Pudding with Meringue Dumplings~
Today I’m going to show you how I make one of my favorite desserts from my childhood. I grew up in Slovakia and this pudding styled dessert was part of our snack at a local kindergarten. It was called Bird’s Milk. I was only few years old but this dessert had made such impression on me I remember details like green glass dishes it was served in and a large stainless steel cart it sitting on, how teacher wheeled into the room.
This dessert is for kids as much as it is for adults and today I’m putting a St. Patrick’s twist on my old time favorite.
St. Patrick’s Vanilla Pudding with Meringue Clouds(about 4 servings)
Cooked Meringue Clouds/Dumplings
2cups milk
2egg whites
2tbl sugar
- In a clean bowl whip egg whites until medium peaks are formed, add sugar and beat until stiff and shiny
- Heat 2 cup of milk in a small sauce pan
- Once milk is hot drop several tablespoon of meringue into the hot milk, cook for 30 seconds, gently stir with a wooden spoon and cook for another 30 seconds and up to 2 minutes.
- You can taste the cooked meringue, once cooked it become firmer then uncooked
- Remove cooked meringue clouds from the milk and drop them into a colander colander that is sitting on another bowl to catch the excess milk
- Continue with remaining meringue
- If you notice hot milk is about to seize while you are dropping meringue in, add a little bit of cold milk to control it.
- Set the cooked meringue clouds aside
Vanilla Pudding
3cups milk ( use left over milk from the previous step-Cooked Meringue Dumplings plus add additional milk to get 3cups)
4-5tbl sugar
2egg yolks
1/3cup milk
5tbl corn starch or potato starch
1tsp vanilla extract
1tbl butter
food coloring
- In a small dish whisk together cornstarch, egg yolks and 1/3 cup milk. Add food coloring if desired.
- In a medium size sauce pan combine 3cup milk and 4-5 tbl sugar, or to taste
- Add cornstarch egg yolk mixture and stir continuously, mixture will thicken, cook pudding, once you see bubbles, cook for additional minute or two, stirring.
- Remove pudding from the heat, and stir in 1tbl butter and 1tsp vanilla extract
- Strain pudding through a fine mesh strainer
- Fold about 3/4 of cooked meringue clouds into the pudding
Serving Suggestion
- This recipe makes about 6 – 1/2cup servings( I used a lot larger serving dishes, 1/2 cup won’t cut it for me)
- Layer each dish with berries, pudding mixture and vanilla biscuits, topping it with a reserved cooked meringue cloud.
- Let cool to room temperature or chill, best eaten slightly chilled or at room temperature
- You can make this a day ahead, make sure you cover the tops to prevent skin forming if stored in the fridge overnight.
Pudding is one of my favorites and addition of cooked meringue clouds/dumplings really brings it to a whole new level. Remember, vanilla flavor is not set in stone this dessert could be done with banana, chocolate and even a raspberry, possibilities are endless.
