One-Minute Budino

This dessert is so decadent and delicious,

nobody will know that it only took seconds to make.

I originally shared a basic version of this recipe as part of my 100+ Reasons to Love Dairy post, but I've had lots of questions about preparing this budino, so here's a little more information about one of our favorite treats.

My One-Minute Budino is a simple combination of milk, heavy cream, and instant pudding mix. All of the ingredients are added to a blender, whirred for 30 seconds, and the result is a magical dessert that everyone loves.

But, really, I should call it "our" budino, because Glen is the one who came up with this idea. All I did was quantify amounts (because Glen never measures) and take some pictures.


Do you really just mix the milk, cream, and pudding mix in a blender?

Yes. We've been making regular pudding (milk + instant pudding mix) in our rocket blender for over a year now. That was Glen's idea, too. We will never whisk pudding again. Making pudding in the blender takes less than 30 seconds to mix. What other dessert can you whip up that fast?

Glen took pudding up a notch one day when he added heavy cream to the milk and pudding mix. Glen is a big fan of heavy cream; so much so that he often makes a big glass of chocolate milk with half milk and half cream. (I wish I had his metabolism.) So I really wasn't surprised when he added cream to the pudding, but I was surprised by the result: it was unbelievably delicious.

Of course, Glen had no idea how much cream he had added, so I experimented with a couple batches and found that half milk and half cream makes the best budino.


What is budino?

Budino is the Italian word for pudding. True budino is thickened with both egg yolks and corn starch. I first had budino at a fancy restaurant in Minneapolis a year ago. When I first tasted this cream-enriched pudding, it reminded me of that budino. Plus, this dessert is not at all like regular pudding – it's much smoother and silkier – so we decided it needed a name of it's own. Technically, you could call this mock budino, but it really is a lot like the real thing. And it's so much simpler to make.


What size rocket blender do you use?

The cups for our rocket blender hold exactly 2 ½ cups (20 ounces) of liquid when filled to the brim. That means I can comfortably put 2 ¼ cups of liquid in them and get the lid on without making a mess. The single serving cups that came with my big blender will not hold 2 ¼ cups of liquid. If your blender cups hold less than 2 ¼ cups, simply reduce the amounts of milk and cream a little, figuring that the pudding mix takes up about ¼ cup when dissolved. Keep in mind, too, that different flavors of pudding mix have different amounts of powder in the package. (See the note below under flavors about making chocolate fudge budino and cookies and cream budino.)

Since there's not a lot of extra room in the blender cup, it's important to put the milk into the cup first, then stir in the pudding mix, and, last, add the cream. The pudding mix won't dissolve in cream, so if you put the cream into the cup first, the rest of the ingredients won't fit.

If you'd rather use a full-size blender, I recommend making a double batch, to make sure you have enough liquid in the blender for good mixing.


What flavor pudding do you use?

Our favorite budino flavor, hands down, is white chocolate (made with Jell-O brand mix). It is pure bliss. It's so good we've talked about using it as frosting or cake filling.

Every other flavor we've tried – vanilla, butterscotch, coconut cream, french vanilla, chocolate fudge, cookies and cream – has been delicious, too. But not quite as divine as the white chocolate.

Our kids love the cookies and cream flavor, but it turns a slightly odd shade of grey because all of the cookie pieces are blended up. This flavor needs to be made as a double batch in a full-size blender; the mix takes up too much room to fit in a rocket blender cup.

The flavor we make the least is chocolate fudge. Chocolate fudge budino has great flavor, but it lacks the silky, smooth mouth feel of other flavors. And texture is part of what makes budino so great. If you do make chocolate fudge budino, use a smaller amount of cream; there's more powder in a package of chocolate fudge instant pudding mix and the powder mixes up thicker than other flavors.

One-Minute Budino

1 cup milk
1 3 oz. package of instant pudding
¾ to 1 cup heavy cream

Pour milk into single-serve rocket blender cup (20 ounce cup). Add pudding mix to milk and stir briefly to dissolve mix in milk. Pour cream into cup and put blender lid on cup. Blend for 15 to 30 seconds. (The sound of our blender changes when the budino is thick enough.) Serve immediately for soft-set budino or refrigerate 15 minutes for thick-set budino.

If you really want an impressive dessert, top with some fresh berries and/or a layer of freshly whipped cream. Or just add sprinkles. ☺

Serves 4 - 5.



Jell-O has no idea who I am. My mention of their brand is solely my opinion.