Strawberry Cheesecake Pudding

Fill a double boiler or medium-sized saucepan just under halfway with water. Heat the water over high heat until it’s at a rolling boil, then reduce the heat to medium-high. If you’re using a saucepan, place a large bowl over the saucepan to make a double boiler – the bowl should be big enough so that it sits on the rim of the saucepan. Do not let it touch the water below: if it does, remove some of the water from the pan.

Add the two tablespoons of butter along with all of the flour and granulated sugar to the bowl and whisk them together. The butter will melt, and you should have a mixture resembling cornmeal.

Slowly whisk in the milk, one-half cup at a time, making sure it’s completely incorporated before you add more milk. Once all the milk has been added continue whisking the mixture for 10-12 minutes, until slightly thickened. It should coat the back of a spoon and the sides of the bowl – don’t move to the next step until this happens.

Now it’s time to temper the egg yolks: ladle a few tablespoons of the hot milk mixture into the bowl of beaten egg yolks, whisking the entire time. Repeat this step until you’ve added about half a cup of liquid to the yolks.

Whisk the tempered egg yolks into the bowl of pudding mixture, and continue to whisk for another 12-15 minutes. You don’t need to whisk constantly, but at least every 5 minutes or so. Once the pudding has thickened – you should be able to pick up spoonfuls of it that will run off and drip from the spoon after a few seconds – remove the bowl or boiler from heat.

Stir in the vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste, whisking vigorously to make sure it’s well distributed. Set the pudding aside to cool while you make the sweetened cream cheese.

To a large bowl with a hand mixer, or the bowl of your stand mixer with the whisk attachment affixed, add the cream cheese, powdered sugar, cornstarch, and remaining butter. Beat on high speed for 5-6 minutes, until completely combined.

Fold the cream cheese mixture into the pudding and pop it into the fridge to cool off while you prep your serving dish.

Line the bottom of your serving dish with crushed golden Oreos and strawberry slices. Spoon in about a third of the pudding and top with more crushed oreos and strawberries. Next, you guessed it: more pudding! Continue layering until the dish is full. Garnish as you see fit: I chose Strawberry Crunch Crumble and strawberry whipped cream.

Refrigerate for at least 8 hours before serving. This will keep covered in the fridge for about 4 days.