As the Thanksgiving season approaches, many people are searching for the perfect dessert: that’s why we are putting two pudding recipes to the test, so you don’t have to!
Our first recipe was a pumpkin pie pudding from the Food Network.
The recipe called for bananas, pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, store-bought vanilla pudding and graham crackers.
The recipe itself was fairly simple. We mashed the bananas and mixed them with the other ingredients.
However, the taste was a different story.
The pudding tasted like bananas with a hint of the pumpkin promised. The texture was also very disappointing. The mashed banana gave the pudding a slimy, slightly chewy texture that just was not appealing. Overall, the bananas were this recipe’s downfall.
The second pudding recipe was a bread pudding recipe found on the Allrecipes website.
We altered it slightly, substituting apples for dried fruit and nuts.
We started by making the pudding with milk, sugar, eggs, cinnamon, vanilla, butter, and orange zest, putting it together into a bowl. This first portion of the pudding was very wet and had a liquid consistency.
After all the ingredients were mixed, we poured the mix into an aluminum pan, filled with strips of dried bread. After blending the wet and dry mixtures, we sprinkled a handful of chopped pecans and dried cranberries into the pan.
The finishing touch was to pour on a warm sweet sauce, similar to cinnamon roll icing. The sauce was made of milk, sugar, and vanilla, which topped off the bread pudding, giving it its soft cushioned texture. After the bread mixture became moist, it was time to pop it into the oven and cook it, which was a fun detail of the cooking p
rocess we learned about.
Taste and texture-wise, the pudding was soft and sweet, like a pillowy cloud. The bread was fluffy and full of air. Each bite was compacted with so much flavor. The lighter elements of the milk, sugar, and vanilla gave the dessert a sweet pastry feel and the added nuts and fruit made the dish feel more festive and gave the pudding a great taste.
Overall, the bread pudding wins this food battle.
