Rainy-day pudding

I'm trapped inside with the dags and sick of eating eggs for breakfast so I made a 7-minute pudding recipe I found on allrecipes. It tastes infinitely better than that boxed stuff, just watch what type of vanilla you use. I made one batch with an old bottle of vanilla extract and it was way too strong and alcoholic tasting. If you're using imitation vanilla you may have to increase the amount to your taste. For a lower calorie pudding I've used fat-free milk, margarine, and splenda with good results.

-2 cups milk
-2 tbsp cornstarch
-2 egg yolks
-1 tsp vanilla
-1/4 cup sugar
-1-2 tbsp butter

In a microwave-safe bowl, mix milk into cornstarch a little at a time to dissolve thoroughly. In a separate bowl, beat egg yolks until smooth and add to milk/cornstarch mixture.

Microwave on high (if you're like me and don't have a high option on your microwave or don't know how to do that, microwave for 2 minutes at a time, whisking in between until pudding thickens) for five minutes, whisk well, then microwave for another 2 minutes and whisk again. Of course if you don't know what your microwave will do, you can always just put this whole mixture in a sauce pan and stir it on medium heat until it thickens. Take it off as soon as it boils however.

After you have your thick pudding base, add vanilla, sugar or sweetener, and butter until it's all well blended. I like pudding hot (mostly because I can't wait for it to chill), but you can chill it in the fridge for a couple hours if you want it cold.

Enjoy!