Really Quick Mixed-flavor Pudding

Like creamy dessert without ice-cream chilliness? How about something convenient to make with few ingredients and implements? Pudding! You can customize for flavors and milks (fat-level content, lactose/lactose-free). Yogurt, custard, and soft-serve are additional creamy desserts without ice-cream chilliness, but this article is about pudding that uses instant pudding powder and milk.

My recent pudding batch used 2 4-serving boxes (chocolate, butterscotch) and 4 cups of 1% lactose-free milk. (Vary the ingredients as you'd like.)

Quick-glance Recipe Info

Use a mixing bowl and wire whip to combine (~90 to 120 seconds), occasionally scraping bowl sides. Pour the mixture into smallish jelly jars or 7-8 oz plastic or paper cups. Serve immediately or cover and store in the refrigerator.

Use a mixing bowl and wire whip to combine (~90 to 120 seconds), occasionally scraping bowl sides. Pour the mixture into smallish jelly jars or 7-8 oz plastic or paper cups. Serve immediately or cover and store in the refrigerator.

Because I think 4-oz servings are too small for my taste, I poured the mixture into 6 portions rather than 8. View videos (slide show) and (motion version) for the following step-by-step stages:

• Implements (bowl, wire whip, rubber spatula, small plate for holding the other three items)
• Ingredients (milk, pudding powder, optional chocolate chips)
• Process (assembling, mixing, mixture distributing, food-wrap covering, storing in refrigerator)

Caloric Considerations

Sugar free pudding powder has significantly fewer calories than regular powder. For an example, Jell-O Sugar Free Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix has 4 servings (powder only) at 25 calories each, but Jell-O Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix calories is 90.

Milk comes in fat-free, whole, and in-between low-fat-percentage varieties. Various other milks are available, such as soy and almond. (I have no experience with non-cow milk myself.)

Lactose Considerations

Lactose-free milk is good for lactose-intolerant people. Lactaid is a big name, but Mootopia and store-brand clones are also available. Not all milk-fat lactose-free milks are always available. Calcium-fortified lactose-free milk might or might not be available where you shop.

Some instant milk powders contain milk products, which can cause discomfort for lactose-intolerant consumers. Jello brand does not. (Jello brand costs a bit more than house brand, if you're considering price.)

Pudding Powder Sizes and Varieties

Box size options at the store vary. Larger boxes don't seem to be double-servings of smaller boxes. For instance at my store, the larger Jello box (5.1 oz, $1.18) claims to serve 6, and the smaller Jello box (3.4 oz, $ .87) claims 4 servings. You can get some savings by buying the bigger box, but not hugely.

The serving sizes calculate out to about 1/2 cup milk for each serving. A 4-serving box calls for 2 cups of milk; a 6-serving box calls for 3 cups of milk.

My local supermarket hit list for pudding mixes shows vanilla, chocolate, pistachio, lemon, and butterscotch. By getting smaller boxes, it's easy to mix and match suitable flavors.

Additional Thoughts

You can, uh, think outside the boxes, and add chocolate chips (as I did) or crumble Oreos or other yummies onto (into?) the mix. The pudding's set within minutes of mixing.

For another pudding idea, visit "Minty Choco Chip Pudding".