Budino is just a fancy word for pudding, and I’m always into pudding. My favorite kinds of desserts are anything creamy, custardy, and chocolate is a bonus.

The other great thing about pudding is that it’s extraordinarily quick and easy to make. The hard part is waiting for it to set up.

I like this version, pretty layers of vanilla and milk chocolate puddings. My preference was for the milk chocolate flavor, though – and next time, I’ll probably make the entire batch milk chocolate. Both flavors start from the same base, so changing things up is pretty simple.

The step of heating up the milk separate from the eggs isn’t totally necessary. But wait, won’t the eggs curdle if you just mix it all together and then heat it up? Custards made with just milk and eggs require the milk to be heated then added slowly to the eggs in order to bring the temperature up slowly without cooking them. Then that mixture is heated again, and the eggs go to work thickening the milk as more heat is applied.

Cornstarch is the magic ingredient that prevents curdling in this instance, so I just mixed all of the ingredients together from the start and then heated it up. I could have been more aggressive with the heat and even brought the mixture to a boil and it wouldn’t have curdled. The general rule of thumb is a tablespoon of flour or two teaspoons of a pure starch such as cornstarch or arrowroot per cup of liquid provides curdling insurance (this also may compromise a dish in terms of texture and flavor which is why custard-based ice creams aren’t made with starch).

To get the recipe and see the other entries from this week’s Baked Sunday Mornings head on over to Baked Sunday Mornings.

• Vanilla Bean & Milk Chocolate Budino (Baked Explorations, p. 192)