Caramel Budino

*Post by Angela.

I can't remember the last time I was excited to make a dessert. Though I don't crave sweets, I often enjoy the desserts we order when we're out and about. As for home, I'll make dessert when it's absolutely necessary (read: when we have guests), but generally I don't care for the process and almost always don't care for the results. This caramel budino from Bon Appetit, however, is not only really easy to make, but a wonderful dessert for those who don't love overly sweet sweets. I left off the caramel sauce, because, well, I'm someone who doesn't love overly sweet sweets. Plus, I was making this for pre-Thanksgiving dinner for 20 people, so I was trying to find shortcuts in all the dishes I made.

List of ingredients for the crust:

• 1/2 cup finely ground Nilla wafers
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp melted unsalted butter
• 1/8 tsp kosher salt

Ooh, I love crumbled cookie crust. The original recipe calls for chocolate cookies, but I'm a sucker for Nilla wafers and try to work them into recipes whenever possible. Anyway, I mixed everything together, then spooned about 2 tbsp of the cookie crust into the bottom of some mason jars (probably 6-7 16-oz. jars or 12-13 8-oz jars) and set them aside.

List of ingredients for the budino:

• 3 cups whole milk, divided
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 3/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
• 5 large egg yolks
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 teaspoons dark rum
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

First, I whisked together 1/2 cup of the milk and cornstarch in a small bowl and set it aside. I heated the remaining 2 1/2 cups milk in a saucepan just to a simmer, then turned the heat down as low as I could get it, just to keep it hot. In yet another saucepan, I stirred together the brown sugar with 3/4 cup of water in a heavy saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolved. Then I turned up the heat and cooked without stirring for about 5-7 minutes.

In the meantime, I whisked the egg yolks in a large bow, then gradually whisked in hot milk in a thin stream, then added the cornstarch mixture.

I slowly whisked in the caramel, then returned the combined mixture to the saucepan and cooked over medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture had thickened, about 3-4 minutes. I took the saucepan off the heat and whisked in the butter, rum, and salt.

I poured the budino (about 1/2 cup for each jar) over the cookie crust, then placed the lids on and put the jars in the fridge for the budino to set for at least 4 hours. I actually made this a day ahead of time, which was key for my busy day. I served the desserts up with a helping of whipped cream and just a sprinkle of good sea salt.

Cute, right? Especially if you use the baby mason jars. I really liked being able to hand out the individual servings to my guests. This is a great make-ahead dessert to keep in mind if you are entertaining over the holidays.