So yesterday we closed on a home which is equal parts exciting and scary for me.  And we now own five acres with a fixer-upper house, an old rusty barn, a fruit orchard, blueberry bushes, a muscadine vine, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Just kidding about the partridge.  But the pear tree is for real.  As well as some gorgeous old magnolia and pecan trees.  Oh, and fig trees.  And some kind of bush that blooms pretty purple flowers.  And there are azaleas too.   And another bush/tree thing that blooms pink flowers.

I need to grow a green thumb quick because things are budding in my yard and needing attention. The next few weeks will be hectic.  Hopefully not stressful, but very, very hectic.  There is all the moving and rearranging  and organizing to get through.  Mississippi Kitchen is getting a new Mississippi kitchen.  Bear with me if things slow down for a little while. 

But for now, I am still here and I made some delicious homemade butterscotch pudding the other day.  I had never made butterscotch pudding before, so I searched the Internet for a recipe and settled on Gale Gand’s.  The taste was exceptional.  My daughter who is not a big fan of butterscotch even raved over it.  I only slightly adapted the recipe.  The original recipe is here.

 Here are my notes:

-The only change I made in ingredients was to add in some dark brown sugar.  Loved, loved, loved the flavor.

 -When cooking the brown sugar and butter, the mixture was thick. 

-When whisking the brown sugar mixture into the milk mixture, some of the brown sugar mixture solidified a little, but I kept whisking until it was smooth.

-I meant to strain the pudding through a fine wire mesh, but I was so excited to pour it into my little jelly jars, I forgot to.  I almost always strain puddings and custards because there is usually something that needs to be strained out of them–little bits of eggs that have scrambled, maybe some cornstarch that didn’t dissolve all the way.  If you want it really smooth and silky, I would strain it.  Just push it through the strainer with a rubber spatula.

-You could used powdered or regular sugar for the whipped cream.  I kept my brown sugar theme going.

Butterscotch Pudding with Brown Sugar Whipped Cream