Creamy Almond Pudding + Almond Brittle

“I can’t wait to eat that pudding. That’s like my ultimate.” This is what my mom said to me an hour before she scuffled down her ‘ultimate’. In fact anything with almonds would be her ‘ultimate’. The fact is that she was right in being excited for her ‘ultimate’ because it’s just so darn ultimate!

This is a delicious creamy almond pudding made using milk, ground almonds and a few other ingredients. It isn’t the kind of pudding that is too sweet to finish, which makes it easier to eat lost of it. The recipe is adapted from a Moroccan pudding called ‘Mulhalabya’ which is also an almond pudding, but uses cinnamon and rosewater as flavourings. My version only uses almond extract to flavour it. I chose this flavouring because I simply wanted to accentuate the flavour of the ground almonds. You can taste the mellow flavour of the almond and feel the coarse texture of the crushed almonds. Unlike other set puddings that take hours to firm up, this one only takes 40 minutes in the refrigerator to set, meaning before you know it you’ll be eating creamy almond pudding. The almond brittle adds an extra crunchy texture as well as sweetness. This is the perfect afternoon tea treat or post dinner pudding.

Enjoy!

Makes 4 individual puddings

Ingredients:

Creamy Almond Pudding:

• 750ml milk
• 3 tbs castor sugar
• 2 1/2 tbs cornflour
• 1 tbs ground rice
• 3 tbs water
• 100g ground almonds
• ½ tsp almond extract

Almond Brittle:

• 30g raw almonds
• 40g castor sugar

Method:

Creamy Almond Pudding:

1.Bring the milk to the boil over a medium heat. Stir occasionally so that it doesn’t burn.

2. In a bowl mix the castor sugar, corn flour, ground rice, and water. Leave to one side for the moment.

3.Once the milk has come to the boil, pour into the bowl with your castor sugar, corn flour, ground rice and water. Whisk until all ingredients are well combined. Pour the mixture back into your saucepan and place over a medium heat. Whisk constantly until it comes to the boil. Continue until it thickens slightly. This takes about 5 minutes.

4. Once it has thickened, add your ground almonds and turn down the heat. Continue mixing for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.

5. Pour the pudding into 4 drinking glasses (you could leave it to set in the bowl and not have individual puddings). Cover with plastic wrap and leave to set in the fridge for 40 minutes.

Almond Brittle:

1.First place your almonds onto a piece of baking paper. They should be placed closely together.

2. Place your castor sugar into a saucepan over a medium heat and leave to melt. Do not stir the sugar with a utensil because it will crystallise. Shake the pan around so that the sugar doesn’t burn. Once the sugar has melted pour evenly over your almond. To make washing up easier, immediately submerge the pot in hot water.

3. Let the sugar set and become hard.

Assembly:

1.Crush the brittle using something heavy. Remove the set puddings from the fridge and pour the crushed brittle over the top of each one.

Happy Stirring!

-Ben

Glasses & Vase from Carrol Boyes

Measuring cup from Zyliss