natilla

How To Make natilla

• 1

  Simmer 3 cups milk with ½ cup sugar, lemon zest, and cinnamon stick.
• 2

  Meanwhile whisk yolks with ½ cup sugar.
• 3

  After milk simmers, remove from heat, then add in the remaining cup of milk to cool pot down a bit, then add milk 1 ladle at a time to temper egg yolks. Then pour this back in pan and stir. Add vanilla. Stir water into cornstarch and add to mixture. *See NOTE
• 4

  Turn heat up to medium and cook till Natilla is thick stirring constantly.
• 5

  Remove cinnamon stick and pour into serving dishes. Sprinkle with group cinnamon. Place one cookie on top of each pudding. Refrigerate till cold at least 2 hours.
• 6

  NOTE:I have an electric stove so I put my half and half and half with the additions on the lowest setting and let it start heating up. In the meantime I stir the sugar and egg yolks together and I go ahead and mix the water and the cornstarch together. Once that is done, I go back to the half and half mixture and I turn it up a couple of notches and then I start stirring immediately and I heat the mixture till it is steaming but not boiling, (my mother would call this scalding the milk) then I add in the cold milk. Now here again at this stage, the chefs on TV will add a scoop or tow of milk and call it good. However, they have never cooked anything for me so I cannot vouch for their abilities but my mama was a great cook and she always said: to temper your milk slowly add in a ladle full of milk at a time while stirring your eggs well until you have ladled about half your scalded milk into the eggs. Then slowly whisk it back into your milk mixture. So I follow my mother's instructions and I have never scrambled the eggs or had to strain them after.
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