60 Second Lemon Pudding

 60 Second Lemon Pudding requires no cooking, is egg-free and is the easiest thing you’ll ever make. All you need are 3 simple ingredients, a bowl, whisk and 1 minute of time. This recipe comes together like magic and makes the perfect addition to icebox cakes, pies, parfaits and more!

Be prepared to be totally amazed. There’s some culinary magic that’s about to happen!

Like, real real magic. Like, you are just 60 seconds away from enjoying luscious, fresh, lemon pudding.

There’s no cooking involved. No eggs. No gelatin, no whipping. Nothing of the sort. This recipe requires no work. Zilch. Nada. 

If you’re wondering if this recipe really comes together in just 60 seconds, make sure to watch the video in this post for stone cold proof. The video is not sped up, I promise you, and I included a timer/countdown and everything. I wanted to make sure you know that it is truly a 60 second recipe!!

Ok, enough of me yammering – let’s get to it.

The Ingredients

The other bonus about this recipe is that you likely already have the ingredients in your pantry and fridge. 

I always have heavy cream on hand because I use it for morning coffee, and I always have lemons laying around. Of course, as a baker, I have a stockpile of condensed milk in my pantry because it’s great for easy desserts (ehem, you’ve seen my recipe for Brigadiero, right?)

When I came across the recipe for 10 minute Lime Cracker Pie from Food52, the recipe looked amazing, but the part that completely fascinated me was the idea that sweetened condensed milk, cream and lime juice made a silky, ultra creamy INSTANT pudding.

I was like, wait, do people know about this!?! This has to be the easiest pudding recipe in the entire universe, and I had no freaking clue this existed. 

The original recipe is essentially an icebox cake made with crackers, but I wanted to pull the pudding part away from it and highlight it on it’s own. I felt it deserved some spotlight because there are so many other great uses for this besides icebox cake. 

I modified the recipe a little bit.

Instead of limes, I used lemon juice and I actually skipped adding the zest because I didn’t really love the texture of zest mixed in with the creamy pudding.

How does 60 second lemon pudding work? 

It seems like magic, but we can thank science for this delectable, tasty, fresh lemon pudding.

Here is how you make easy lemon pudding.

In a large bowl, mix together the sweetened condensed milk until completely combined. Then, add the lemon juice.

Basically, as soon as the acid hits the dairy, the mixture instantly thickens. Normally when you add lemon juice to straight up milk or cream, it results in curdling. However, with the added condensed milk, there are no curds that form.

It all stays silky smooth. 

Now, don’t expect it to get ULTRA thick. This pudding is on the thinner side, but in my opinion, is plenty thick enough to enjoy right after it’s made.

If you’re looking for really thick pudding, all you need to do is chill it for at least 8 hours or so, and it will thicken up nicely.

Substitutes

Given there are only 3 ingredients in this recipe, I hope you don’t find the need to experiment with substitutes. And, I only say that because I want to ensure you get the right results with this recipe! 🙂

Frankly, I have not tested this recipe using anything other than lemon or lime juice, sweetened condensed milk or heavy cream. Each ingredient plays an important role to making this an easy indulgence to enjoy any time.

I’m really not sure if you could replace the cream with whole milk or half and half. I imagine it would thicken, but due to the higher water content I’m not sure if it would thicken enough.

I’ve also been curious to see if this would work with fresh squeezed orange juice, but I know the acid levels are different compared to a lemon or lime. Oranges are less acidic.

Lemon Pudding Desserts

As mentioned, this recipe traces back to that inspirational post on Food52, but there are a ton more uses for this than just icebox cake (although, icebox cake is always a fab choice!)

Here are some ideas:

• Trifles
• Parfaits
• Pies
• Dessert jars (I have a couple recipes in the works!)
• Use it to top fruit salad
• Basically, anywhere you need to layer in a luscious, citrusy pudding

 

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