Helen, Russ' mom, was a cook of her times; she was a 'June Cleaver' of the 1940's. She mastered making do with less and of finding thrifty ways to stretch her family's food budget. She participated in a community Victory Garden, nurturing her plot to augment their meals with fresh vegetables.
With sugar in short supply, desserts were rare. But the occasional 'score' of sweetened condensed milk with a ration card meant a special end to a family meal. It cracks me up that I will make this (haven't made it in years!), but someone in my Parkinson's online support group mentioned using sweetened condensed milk and this floated to the surface of my memory. It's funny because I JUST wrote a post about eating real food and this is most certainly not real or healthy. But we have a 'sweet tooth' across the road, so Russ and I will have a token taste and Jasyn will get the rest. I warned him it was sugar and he said "save some for me".
It became a favorite during the war years and Helen made it a 'Heaton speciality'. Here you go: Magic Caramel Pudding
Ingredients:
1 can of Borden's Sweetened Condensed Milk
Directions:
- Remove the label from the can. Do not open the can.
- Put the can in a pot and completely cover the can with water.
- Put the pot on the stove and turn on the heat. Bring the pot to a simmer and simmer for at least 3 hours.
- Be careful to keep covered in water. I set the timer at 15 minute increments to check. If the can becomes uncovered, it has the potential to explode and cleaning a mess on walls and ceiling is not a fun task (...just FYI)
- I add warmed water when necessary.
- The longer you simmer, the more solid the pudding. If you are wanting more of a caramel sauce only simmer for about 2 hours.
- After 3 or 4 hours, turn off pot and let it sit in the water for up to an hour
- Chill thoroughly
- Open both ends of the can. Using a lid, push the caramel out onto a small plate.
- Slice (1/8-1/4" slices is more than enough richness for one serving.
Serving:
The simplest way to serve and my preference is with whipped cream. It is good just lie that.
I read a review that sort of threw it all even further over the edge of edible. What do you think?
"I put a slice of pineapple ring on a dish, a slice of caramel pudding on the pineapple, squirt cool whip on the caramel, a sprinkle of crushed nuts on cool whip and add a marchino cherry to this. This is a beautiful desert, great for company."