Czech Republic Comfort Food Recipe for Coffee Pudding: Easy and Enjoyable Coffee Dessert

Europe's famed coffee culture flourishes in the Czech Republic, where coffee is appreciated as a beverage of choice in dining experiences at home and away from home. Dining establishments abound, with café environments for every style, from casual to elegant to rustic. At home, coffee quenches thirst and provides ambience through its appreciated status in Czech cuisine as a beverage and as a flavor-filled ingredient in family recipes.

Coffee Pudding (kávový pudink) exemplifies the easy versatility of coffee as comfort food in the Czech Republic.

This caffeinated has an innate elegance which is enhanced through presentation in the beautiful ceramic and glass goblets and dinnerware which are specialties of the Czech Republic's artistically creative and traditionally-trained artisans.

Ingredients for 6 servings

Depending upon portion size, yields 4 to 6 servings.

After stovetop preparation, allow 1 to 2 hours for chilling in refrigerator.

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

3 Tablespoons cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup half-and-half

1 cup freshly brewed coffee

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. In a saucepan combine cornstarch, salt, and sugars.

• Slowly add in half-and-half, whisking vigorously until smoothly blended.

2. Place on burner set at medium heat.

• Stirring constantly, add in coffee.
• When mixture begins to thicken, usually in about 3 to 5 minutes, reduce heat to low.
• Continue to stir and bring to a simmer until mixture thickens noticeably.

3. Remove from burner.

• Whisk in vanilla extract.
• Allow to cool, stirring occasionally to discourage skin.
  • (Skin is the thickened layer formed on the surface by coagulation of milk proteins and uneven temperature of milk as it cools.)

4. Pour into small (3-cup) serving bowl or into 4 to 6 small ramekins, dessert dishes, or dessert glasses.

• Set in refrigerator until chilled, usually 1 to 2 hours.
  • Note:  For those who do not care for skin on pudding:  Plastic wrap placed directly onto surface of pudding discourages skin formation by preventing evaporation of water in milk and keeping surface moist.

Served chilled. May be topped with whipped cream.

Servings: 4 – 6.

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

European café coffee culture at Prague Zoo: elPadawan, CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/7776449@N06/2890525151/

Ebel Coffee House, Prague: klndonnelly, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/37747175@N00/157397536/