BRÛLÉED VANILLA BEAN TAPIOCA PUDDING & BERRIES

SWEETS
Written By CHARMAINE ZILINSKI

The easiest fancy dessert you’ll ever make. Creamy vanilla bean tapioca, a torched brûlée crust, and fresh berries come together in a dessert that looks impressive but is surprisingly simple to make.

This is my grandbabies’ current favorite dessert and snack, and they’ve been asking me to make it on repeat lately. I love it too so it’s an easy yes. The crackly brûléed sugar on top with the creamy vanilla bean tapioca and juicy berries is pretty hard to resist.

If you’ve never made homemade tapioca pudding before, this recipe is a good place to start. It’s rich, creamy, made from scratch, and has all the flavors of crème brûlée in an easy old fashioned tapioca pudding recipe. This recipe is also amazing and quicker if you want to skip the brûlée step.

Definitely one I’ll be keeping in the rotation around here.

INGREDIENTS

Pudding

1 cup small pearl tapioca

4 cups whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

3/4 cup sugar

4 tsp vanilla bean paste

4 large eggs

Pinch of salt

3 tbsp salted butter

1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar, for brûlée topping

Macerated Berries

1 cup strawberries, sliced

1 cup blueberries

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp lime or lemon juice

DIRECTIONS

  1. Soak the tapioca overnight in cold water, or for 1 to 2 hours in hot water. Drain well.

  2. In a large saucepan, combine the milk, cream, and sugar. Heat over medium heat until steaming and just beginning to simmer.

  3. Stir in the drained tapioca. Reduce heat to low and cook for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring often, until the pearls are mostly translucent and the mixture has thickened.

  4. Whisk the eggs in a bowl. Slowly whisk in about 1/2 cup of the hot pudding mixture. Gradually pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan, stirring constantly. Cook for 2 to 5 minutes, until smooth and creamy.

  5. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla bean paste, salt, and butter until fully combined.

  6. Divide among ramekins or pour into a shallow serving dish. Refrigerate until completely chilled.

  7. Using a paper towel, lightly dab any moisture off the top before sprinkling the tops evenly with sugar. Using a kitchen torch, caramelize the sugar until golden and crisp.

  8. Combine the strawberries, blueberries, sugar, and lime or lemon juice in a bowl. Let stand for 20 to 30 minutes, until the berries release their juices.

  9. Spoon the macerated berries over the chilled pudding and serve.

CHARMAINE ZILINSKI
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