Pudding is great comfort food, yet not everyone realizes how easy it is to make from scratch. Let My-T-Fine mix become a thing of the past. This pudding is ready in less than 15 minutes and, served steaming hot or chilled, it’s exceptionally rich and smooth.

This is really just an elegant pudding, cooked slightly firm, in small espresso cups or pots. I like to serve this with a good cookie for dipping biscotti, for example.

This rich, creamy pudding calls for both dark chocolate and cocoa powder. For mocha pudding, heat milk and steep with 1/2 cup crushed coffee beans for 10 minutes. Strain and proceed with recipe.

Serves 8

In step 1, it is imperative that the cooked strawberry mixture measures 2 cups; any more and the filling will be loose. If your fresh berries aren’t fully ripe, you may want to add extra sugar to taste in step 2. Use your favorite pie dough or use our recipe. Chill the heavy cream in step 4 to help it whip more quickly.

For one 9-inch Single-Crust Pie

Vodka is essential to the texture of the crust and imparts no flavor—do not substitute. This dough will be moister and more supple than most standard pie doughs and will require more flour to roll out (up to 1/4 cup).

Serves 8

Though you can make one large creme caramel, we find that custards baked in individual ramekins cook faster, are more evenly textured, and unmold more easily. You can vary the amount of sugar in the custard to suit your taste. Most tasters preferred the full two-thirds cup, but you can reduce that amount to as little as one-half cup to create a greater contrast between the custard and the sweetness of the caramel. Cook the caramel in a pan with a light-colored interior, since a dark surface makes it difficult to judge the color of the syrup. Caramel can leave a real mess in a pan, but it is easy to clean. Simply boil lots of water in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes to loosen the hardened caramel. Espresso beans ground in a coffee grinder will be too fine and impart too strong a coffee flavor to the custard. Instead, crush the beans lightly with the bottom of a heavy saucepan.