Traditional Egg Yolk Pudding from Portugal

Making a good dessert doesn’t have to be complicated, especially when it involves a classic portuguese egg yolk pudding recipe. Take this egg yolk pudding is a traditional recipe especially popular during Christmas. You only need a few basic ingredients to make it, but it turns out super rich and satisfying.

And although very rich this pudding is still all about the basics: egg yolks, caramel, and a touch of orange. It’s thick, sweet and dense, so even a small slice is enough to fill you up. It’s a simple, yet rich dessert that’s perfect for the holidays and parties, let’s check the recipe! 😀

Portuguese Traditional Egg Yolk Pudding

Servings: 4-8
Time: 2hr 30mins
Difficulty: Normal
Rating: ★★★★★
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Incorporating egg yolk in dessert is a time-honored technique that yields a creamy consistency, and this portuguese egg pudding is no exception.

Ingredients

Sugar – 350gr
Egg Yolks – 12
Eggs – 4
Corn Starch – 1 Tablespoon (Maizena)
Peel – 1 Orange
Water – 250ml
Sugar – 200gr (for caramel)
Water – 65ml (for caramel)

Directions

Start by preparing the caramel. Pour 200 grams of sugar and 65 ml of water into a small pan, let the sugar caramelize over a medium heat, without stirring, until it it turns black and caramelized, then take it out and pour it into the pudding tin to grease it (be careful, hot caramel is dangerous if it touches the skin and the tin as well will get really hot to the touch), set the tin aside.
Now on another small pan bring the 250ml of water, the sugar and the orange zest to a boil, boil for about 5 minutes to create a sugar syrup with a hint of orange, remove from the heat.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
Separate the eggs until you have 12 yolks and 4 full eggs. Whisk everything until smooth, then dissolve the cornstarch with a little of the orange syrup.
Add the syrup mixture with the cornstarch, whisking it into the egg yolk mixture, then remove the orange peel, whisking gently.
Finally, pour the mixture into the caramel lined tin and place it in the oven in a bain-marie/water bath (put a tray larger than the pudding tin with hot water inside and place the pudding tin inside this larger tray, this will create a softer heat which is ideal for making pudding), cover with a lid or aluminum foil and bake for around 50 minutes.

After 50 minutes, turn off the oven and leave the pudding in for another 5 minutes, then take the pudding out of the oven and let it cool in the water bath.
When it’s at room temperature, you can put it in the fridge, unmold it when it’s time to serve, and enjoy!

Notes: On a side note, I had a bit of trouble getting the pudding out of the mold, so the photos of the pudding are in slices. It was delicious but the pudding tin i had was a bit old, so I recommend using modern molds that come apart more easily or silicone molds that are easier to unmold.

If you don’t have time, you can swap the caramelized sugar for ready-made liquid caramel. With the egg whites, you can make a whole range of sweets, from molotofs, pavlovas or farófias;D You don’t need to whisk them with a mixer, in this recipe you can easily whisk everything by hand, in fact I think it’s better, whisking them with a mixer will put too much air in the mixture and you want a thick creamy pudding.

This recipe for Portuguese Traditional Egg Yolk Pudding was originally created on BakeAfter.com. Esta receita de Pudim de Gemas Natalício foi publicada em português no Iguaria.com.