Resting, Sketching and Butterscotch Pudding with Black Salt

How was your weekend, dear ones? :-)

Mine was quiet and relaxing, a lovely retreat all by myself so I could get better. I thoroughly enjoyed short walks to the creek, naps in the sunshine, and...

...I even started sketching again! Something I haven't done in ages. :-) My perspective is wonky and I couldn't draw a decent face to save my life, but I had such fun anyways, especially with a fresh package of new markers to experiment with. :-)

I decided a retreat wasn't a proper retreat without something desserty, so I pondered my options. I remembered reading an article in an old Victoria magazine about a young girl who loved staying home sick from school because her grandmother always made her homemade pudding. I do not love being sick but I do love pudding, so I dug out my Betty Crocker cookbook and settled on little bowls of creamy butterscotch. I added my own flair by using almond milk and finishing it off with a sprinkling of black salt. :-) 

I'm not sure why they call it black salt since it is decidedly pink.

Regardless of the name, it tastes marvelous atop sweet pudding, and I felt thoroughly spoiled. :-) I also felt spoiled because my cute-as-a-bug, elderly neighbor lady stopped me the other day and asked if I would mind if she planted flowers all around my apartment. Would I mind?? I was tickled pink! :-) So today I grinned from my armchair as I watched her marching about in a turban and leopard-print wellies making everything beautiful. I'm a lucky, lucky girl. :-)

Butterscotch Pudding with Black Salt
(Adapted from Betty Crocker's Cookbook)

Ingredients:

2/3 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp black salt, more for garnish
2 cups milk or almond milk
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 Tbsp butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Mix sugar, cornstarch and salt in 2-quart saucepan. Gradually stir in milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir one minute.
2. Gradually stir at least half of the hot mixture into egg yolks. Stir into remaining hot mixture in saucepan. Boil and stir one minute.
3. Remove from heat. Stir in butter and vanilla.
4. Pour into dessert dishes. Cover and refrigerate about 2 hours or until chilled.
5. Sprinkle with black salt and serve.