Butterscotch pudding

When I began collecting bone china tea cups - Aynsley, Royal Albert, and Limoges - I vowed to myself that I wouldn't just put them in storage, dust them once a year and gaze at them longingly. So I've been on the hunt for a recipe to showcase in my beautiful tea cups.
And finally I found the perfect recipe for butterscotch pudding while perusing pastry chef David Lebovitz's scrumptious food blog.
It's the perfect solution when you're entertaining several people and don't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen away from your guests. Not only can you create individualized portions but you prepare them in advance. Then once it's time for dessert, all you need to do is pull them out of the fridge and accept heartfelt compliments.
Lebovitz tells his readers that if they are the kind of people who want to press plastic wrap on top of the pudding to prevent the skin from forming, he wonders why they are eating pudding in the first place? I can't say I'm a pudding purist. In fact, I'd probably try to avoid the skin from forming if I could, but there was no need to worry in this case - after chilling these for about four hours, they came out just right.

My substitutions: My only additions were dollops of homemade whipped cream, raspberries, and white chocolate hearts made of compound chocolate - which does not need any tempering. Also, I used dark brown sugar rather than cassonade and despite Lebovitz's warnings, there was no curdling.

Would I make this again? Yes, it would make a delightful dessert alternative for a young girl's birthday party, or even for a spring-time tea party. The recipe came through without any problems and it hit just the right notes. Gorgeous to behold, a treat to taste. And the dash of whisky elevated this dessert from a childhood favourite to an adult indulgence.

Grade: Five stars out of five. This one covers all the bases - straightforward directions, short list of ingredients, easy to prepare in advance, and easy to plate for even the most amateur pastry chef.