Pudding

This aromatic rice pudding is flavored with cinnamon and cardamom, and gets a topping of pistachios and edible flowers.

When I was growing up in India, the arrival of the red carrots in winter was always the food highlight for my family. This is not a quick dessert, but it is exceptionally delicious.

Using a vanilla bean makes this creamy pudding extra special and aromatic. But if you don’t have one on hand, just stir 1 tablespoon vanilla extract into the pudding along with the egg yolks. Although rice pudding is traditionally served cold, I also like this when it’s still warm and a little runny, poured over sliced strawberries and raspberries, which add both juiciness and acidity.

This chilled rice pudding pie is adapted from the popular dessert at MeMe’s Diner in Brooklyn, NY.

There is little more nourishing than milk and rice together—easy to eat and cleansing in the best possible sense of the word. Make a double batch and reheat it with a little extra milk on the following days.

Chia seeds thicken this dairy-free pudding as it sits: it's the perfect healthy, make-ahead dessert!

Chia seeds thicken this summery kefir-based white chocolate pudding, while coconut-candied pecans add a welcome bit of crunch.

Bake your plums in an anise-tinged, pancake-like batter for a simple dessert that’s airy, silky, and just sweet enough.

Silkier, lighter, and more sinfully good than anything you've ever tasted before.

This dessert is a big hit at parties in the Hollywood Hills, especially in the cooler months. It’s probably one of my most deceptive desserts—everyone thinks it's complex to prepare, but it's one of the simplest desserts in my repertoire. When the bread pudding is firm to the touch, you know it's done.

This classic Jewish savory potato pudding has a crisp crust and a moist, soft interior.

These cupcakes remind me of that old song lyric, "Make new friends, but keep the old." I've got my old friend cake and my new pal chia pudding. I like them both, and I thought it was time to bring them together. I personally love salted coconut frosting and could stand to make this one even saltier. Play around with the salt to suit your buds, just make sure to get it right before you let the pudding set in the fridge, as it will be hard to stir it after that.

This classic Yorkshire pudding recipe comes from the original 1961 edition of The New York Times Cookbook. Serve with your favorite roast beef.

Makes you wonder why you would ever serve cold pudding again.

Eastern Kentucky–born and –raised chef Colin Perry plies his art now in Montreal at Dinette Triple Crown. The food there taps into traditions of both the far north and the high country South, as in this delectably oh-so-sticky pudding.

Budino is what Italians ask for when they want pudding. Sub in any stone fruit for the plums.

So thick and luscious you need to serve it in a bowl and eat it with a spoon, this smoothie tastes like chocolate mousse but is healthy enough to kick-start your day. It would also make an epic quick and easy dessert when mates drop by! Yeew!

Leave it to Gjusta in Venice, CA, to create a produce-based, low-sugar, vegan-friendly, crowd-pleasing dessert. That would also be completely acceptable to eat for breakfast.

Why drink O.J. with your yogurt when you can mix it in?

Creamy coconut tapioca pudding with glazed pineapple is one of the desserts I obsessed over when I lived in New York City and worked for François Payard. All of the cooks at Payard Patisserie spent our free time talking about the places we dreamed of going and the dishes we couldn't wait to try. One of the cooks told me about how Claudia Fleming, at the time the pastry chef at Gramercy Tavern, had created a dreamy tapioca that could not be missed. He was right—on one of my last nights in NYC, I was finally able to try it, and thereafter every time I went to visit NYC, I made a point of going back to order it again. Sadly, it's no longer on the menu, but I've channeled it here in this version. It's light and refreshing and uses the natural sugars of mango, pineapple, and apple juice to complement the richness of the coconut milk.

Pots de crème are little baked custards with a fancy name. A pinch of salt in these custards heightens the caramel flavor. Cover the baking pan of custard cups with aluminum foil; it makes for the most luxuriously smooth pots de crème you'll ever have.

Malcolm Livingston II, the pastry chef at WD~50 in New York City, shared this recipe exclusively with Epicurious. What's the inspiration behind this unusual dessert? "Chef Wylie Dufresne said to me, 'We both love root beer, so let's make it come to life as a dessert,' " Livingston explains. The first challenge was finding the right root beer. Livingston and Dufresne tried making their own, and sampled 12 different sodas before finding Fitz's —that's their preferred brand, but feel free to use your favorite. Consistency and texture were the next obstacles. "I wanted to make a pudding that had the consistency of Jell-O pudding, but with more texture, so I crushed up barrel-shaped root beer candies," says Livingston. The candy was combined with milk, milk powder, cornstarch, root beer, and eggs to create a smooth and creamy pudding that Livingston likens to "a solidified root beer float." Use extra caution when grinding the root beer candy, which can be hard on anything but a commercial or high-powered blender.

Matcha, made by grinding up dried green tea leaves to a powdery consistency, has a distinct earthy, sweet flavor that carries through in this creamy panna cotta. And since you consume the leaf directly in this dessert, instead of brewing it, the antioxidant levels are even higher.