When the temperatures begin to hover around the triple digit mark, the last thing anyone wants to do is to be stuck in a hot kitchen. Along with refreshing salads and cool drinks, no bake desserts are a summer must.
One of the easiest no-bake dessert basics is instant pudding. Though instant pudding is a relatively new food, pudding as it is popularly known today in the U.S., has been around since the 1800s.
When Pudding was Savory
In his book, Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson explains some of the history of pudding. The word “pudding” itself gives insight to what type of food it originally was. Davidson writes that "the ancestor of the term was the Latin word botellus, meaning sausage, from which came boudin and also pudding. Puddings in all their variety and glory may thus be seen as the multiple descendants of a Roman sausage.”
Traditional Sweet Pudding
Closer akin to custard in its consistency, traditional American pudding is creamy, rich and sweet. Making traditional pudding from scratch is somewhat time consuming and a culinary art that can be perfected. Chances are the first effort will not be as good as the ones that come after.
Thankfully, in 1936, Jell-O brand instant pudding was introduced facilitating the prep time of this tasty dessert.
Chocolate Cheesecake Swirl Recipe
Ingredients:
- 2(8 oz.) cream cheese
- 1 can Eagle Brand condensed milk
- 1 tbsp. lemon juice
- 1 tbsp. vanilla
- 3 cups Cool Whip, divided
- 12 Oreo Cookies, crushed
- 2 tbsp. butter, melted
- 2 ½ cups cold milk
- 2 pkg. (4oz serving size) Jell-o Chocolate Flavor Pudding and Pie Filling
Directions:
- Combine the first four ingredients (cream cheese, condensed milk, lemon juice and vanilla), and beat at medium speed until smooth.
- Once the cream cheese mixture is smooth, fold in 1 cup of Cool Whip. Do not over beat. Place in fridge
- Mix crushed cookies and butter. Press firmly onto the bottom of square cake pan.
- In a bowl, combine both packages of pudding mix. Gradually add milk, beating for 2 minutes at medium speed (mixture will be thick).
- Add 1 cup of Cool Whip to pudding mixture. Blend well
- Spread pudding mixture onto to prepared crust.
- After the pudding mixture is spread, drop cream cheese mixture onto pudding, by spoonfuls in random pattern.
- Using a knife or narrow spatula, gently swirl cheesecake mixture through pudding, creating a marble effect.
- Top evenly with remaining 1 up of Cool Whip
- Refrigerate for 3 hours or until set
Cut into squares with a warm knife and serve with an Oreo cookie garnish.
Sources:
Davison, Alan. Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford University Press:Oxford 1999
“What is Pudding?” Online Article. Retrieved 2009-07-10
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