A Single Serving of Vanilla Pudding

My flatmate bought too much milk and encouraged me to go ahead and use some of it, just to get rid of it before it expires. I made from it this recipe of Vanilla Pudding:

1 cup milk 


4 tbs white sugar 


3 heaping teaspoons cornstarch 


pinch salt 


1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 


1/2 tablespoon butter

Begin by combining the sugar, starch, and salt in a separate bowl and combining. Then heat up the milk in a small saucepan -- in a small quantity like this it won't take long. When little bubbles begin to form at the edges, add the sugar mixture a bit at a time and whisk it in. When it's all stirred in, keep whisking till it thickens, but avoid letting it boil. When the mixture has thickened to the point where it's leaving a film on all your utensils, take it from the heat and quickly add in the vanilla and butter. Dish it up into serving containers. 

In theory you can let it chill at this point. In my household we never deliberately chilled puddings, we always let them cool just enough to thicken, then ate them warm. They're absolutely lovely on a cold day when served this way. 

Also, technically this is two servings. I don't have the biggest of appetites but I gobbled up both portions easily -- this recipe is very simple to halve if you genuinely want to only make 1/2 a cup of pudding (1/2 c milk, 2 tbs sugar, 1 1/2 heaped tsp cornstarch, pinch salt, 1/4 tsp vanilla, and about 3/4 tsp butter.) But as we were taught in school, the difference between desert and dessert is that you always want more dessert.