Vanilla Cookie Pudding Food

VANILLA PUDDING

Steps:

• Heat 4 cups of the milk in a large saucepan over medium heat until steaming.
• Whisk the sugar, cornstarch and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Whisk in the egg yolks and the remaining 1/2 cup milk.
• Whisk half of the hot milk into the egg mixture until smooth, then gradually whisk the egg-milk mixture into the saucepan. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture boils. Continue to cook, whisking constantly, until it has thickened to a puddinglike consistency, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
• Cool slightly, stirring a few times to prevent a skin from forming. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the pudding and refrigerate until completely cooled and thickened, about 4 hours.
• Before serving, whisk the pudding vigorously until smooth and creamy.
• Stir-ins:
• Cookies and Cream: Crush 20 chocolate wafer cookies, stir some into the pudding and top with the rest.
• Fresh Berries and Gingersnaps: Fold in 2 cups of fresh, mixed berries and top with about 12 finely crushed gingersnaps.
• Vanilla-Banana: Fold in 3 sliced bananas. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Fold in 24 crushed vanilla wafer cookies and top with more sliced bananas.
• Rocky Road: Fold in 1 cup each mini marshmallows and toasted chopped walnuts and 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips. Sprinkle with more chocolate chips.
• Peanut Butter* and Jelly (See Cook's Note): Fold in 1 cup quartered red grapes and 1/3 cup each chopped roasted peanuts and peanut butter chips. Top with whole grapes.

VANILLA PUDDING CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Steps:

• In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
• Place the melted butter in a large bowl and whisk in granulated sugar, brown sugar and pudding mix. Whisk in the egg and vanilla extract. Add flour mixture and mix just until combined. Do not over mix. Fold in chocolate chips.
• Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes (or up to 3 days). You can skip this step if you want.
• Preheat oven to 175C/350F degrees. Line pans with parchment paper.
• If the cookie dough is hard to handle, leave it on the counter for a few minutes.
• Drop rounded balls of dough onto prepared baking sheet using heaping tablespoons or a medium (about 1.5-tablespoons) ice cream scoop, leaving about 2-3 inches (5-8 cm) between each cookie.
• Bake for about 8-10 minutes, until cookies just begin to brown at the edges. Cookies will appear undone but will continue to bake on the warm baking sheet. Leave to cool for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Cookies can also be frozen for up to a month.

LEFTOVER COOKIE PUDDING

Steps:

• Whisk the milk and cream in a large bowl until combined. Add the lemon zest and juice and whisk until thickened, about 1 minute.
• Spread 2 cups of the pudding mixture in the bottom of a 2 quart casserole dish. Top with one layer of the cookies, breaking them as necessary to cover thoroughly. Repeat layering pudding and cookies until all the pudding is used, ending with pudding. (If your cookies are smaller, you'll use more; if they're larger, you'll use fewer.)
• Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours. To serve, top with more lemon zest and cookies.

VANILLA PUDDING

Steps:

• In 2-quart saucepan, mix sugar, cornstarch and salt. Gradually stir in milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute.
• Gradually stir at least half of the hot mixture into egg yolks, then stir back into hot mixture in saucepan. Boil and stir 1 minute; remove from heat. Stir in butter and vanilla.
• Pour pudding into dessert dishes. Cover and refrigerate about 1 hour or until chilled. Store covered in refrigerator.