My homemade cheesecake pudding is creamy and smooth and tastes exactly like a slice of cheesecake! Make some graham cracker crumbs for a yummy crunchy topping (got to have a crust!) and swirl in my amazing blueberry sauce to put it over the top.
Hello, all!
Pudding from scratch
I’m excited to share this recipe with you! The idea came about from my daughter’s request for cheesecake and for pudding and then she thought putting them both together would be awesome.
She was right.
We had it for Easter this past year and you would have thought we had nothing for dinner. It is that good.
Of course we had it before Easter (testing) and after (eating) because a dessert this good and easy deserves to be in our rotation just like it deserves to be in yours.
Note: When you scroll down, you will see a lot of words about how to make the recipe and that makes it look not so easy. All these words are just because I want to make sure you all know exactly what to do here. Once you’ve made a similar recipes thickened with eggs and cornstarch, it’s all just variations on a theme.
What do you need?
- Milk/Cream – Stick with whole milk for a balanced recipe which isn’t too rich. If you want to go all out add some cream in place of the milk.
- Sugar – Basic white granulated.
- Eggs/Cornstarch – These provide thickening and body.
- Cream Cheese/Sour Cream – For the cheesecake aspect!
- Graham Crackers – Crush up and mix with sugar and butter just like you are making a crust.
How to make this
To make cheesecake pudding cook milk with sugar, cornstarch, and eggs until thick. Add vanilla and cream cheese and whisk smooth. Whisk in sour cream and chill until set. Serve with graham cracker crumbs and cooked fruit.
- Make stovetop vanilla pudding thickened with egg and cornstarch
- Whisk in cream cheese
- When smooth, whisk in sour cream
- Chill
- Bake graham cracker crumbs
- Make blueberry sauce or buy jam
- Serve with blueberry sauce and graham cracker crumbs
1. Make the pudding
- Make the base
This is just heating up some of the milk with the sugar and salt. You want to get it to a simmer and dissolve all the sugar before you move onto the next step.
Why heat the milk before adding the eggs? This way you aren’t heating the eggs for as long and there is less chance of ending up with scrambled eggs!
- Thicken
Now you are going to whisk together your egg yolks, cornstarch, and the rest of the milk. Once you do you that you are going to temper the eggs. To temper, pour some of the hot milk into the eggs and WHISK.
What is tempering? That is when you add some of the hot liquid to the eggs while whisking and allow the eggs to heat up slowly instead of just pouring the cold eggs into the hot milk. Once again we are trying to prevent scrambled eggs!
Okay, you’ve tempered. Pour the eggs and milk into the saucepan. Bring it all to a simmer and continue whisking until very thick.
- Finish up
This is the fun part!
Once your base is made and thick, take it off the heat, and add in the cream cheese and vanilla. Whisk until smooth then add the sour cream. Whisk again.
Why add the sour cream second? Like eggs, sour cream is fussy about heat. The cream cheese is going to cool down the pudding making it cool enough to add the sour cream without it separating or curdling.
2. Make the topping
The topping is a basic graham cracker crust mixture only instead of baking it in a pie plate, you are going to crumble it up on a baking sheet and brown it.
So mix it all together, then crumble, and bake at 325F for 8-9 minutes total, stirring in the middle. If it’s not quite brown enough at the end of the cooking time give another minute or two, keeping an eye on it since it can go from golden to burnt real quick.
3. Blueberry Sauce
Looking at the photos, you will have probably noticed the yummy looking blueberry sauce swirled into the cups of pudding.
While you certainly can use jam or fresh fruit or another sauce of your choice, I would highly recommend the blueberry sauce. It is quite amazing with the cheesecake pudding.
If you try my recipe for Homemade Cheesecake Pudding, I would love to hear from you in the comments with your experience and rating! And I’m happy to answer any questions you might have.
– Happy Eating, Annemarie
Creamy Homemade Cheesecake Pudding
Ingredients
Pudding Base
- 1 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- pinch kosher salt
Thickeners
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
Cheesecake
- 6 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp sour cream
Topping
- 5 graham crackers, crushed
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- pinch kosher salt
Instructions
Heat the Pudding Base
- In a medium saucepan, whisk together the milk, sugar, and salt.
- Cook over medium heat, whisking occasionally, until the mixture comes to a simmer and the sugar has dissolved.
Thickening
- While the saucepan is heating, whisk together the egg yolks with the 1/4 cup milk. Then add the cornstarch and whisk until smooth.
- Once the saucepan comes to the simmer, take it off the heat.
- While whisking the eggs mixture in the bowl constantly, ladle out some of the hot milk from the saucepan and slowly drizzle it into the bowl. Repeat until you've added about 1/3 of the hot milk to the bowl.
- Then, while whisking the saucepan constantly, pour the contents of the bowl into the saucepan.
- Put the pudding mixture in the saucepan back over medium heat.
- While continuing to whisk frequently, heat the pudding until it is very thick and has large bubbles coming up, 2-3 minutes.
Make Cheesecake Pudding
- Take the saucepan back off the heat.
- Whisk in the room temperature cream cheese and vanilla extract.
- When the mixture is smooth, whisk in the the sour cream.
- Transfer the pudding to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Press the plastic wrap into the top of the pudding if you want to prevent a skin from forming.
- Chill for at least 4 hours. (If you have ladled it into separate serving dishes, chill for at least 1 hour.)
Topping
- Heat oven to 325F.
- Mix together the crushed graham crackers, melted butter, sugar, and salt.
- Sprinkle the crumbs over a baking sheet.
- Bake for 5 minutes. Stir and bake for 3-4 minutes more.
- Remove the crumbs from the oven and let cool.
- Serve the cheesecake pudding with the graham cracker crumbs and fresh fruit, fruit sauce, or jam if desired.
Notes
- Tempering the eggs: By slowly pouring some of the hot milk into the eggs and whisking it together you are gently heating the eggs without letting them scramble. Basically it's a whole whisking thing. Just keep whisking as you ladle and as you pour it back in.
- Cornstarch: Cornstarch not only thickens the pudding, but also gives you insurance on heating the eggs. Eggs with cornstarch can be heated to a higher temperature before they scramble or break.
- Dividing the milk: I divided the milk between the saucepan and the bowl because egg yolks plus cornstarch without any milk makes for a VERY thick mixture. One which is quite hard to whisk without help when first ladling in the hot milk.
- Milk: I use whole milk in the recipe since that makes for a creamy pudding without being overly rich. You can switch out some or all of the milk for half and half or cream if you wish. (Or bring it down to 2% milk, though at that point it does get a little thin tasting.)
- Sour cream: Do not skip this! The tang of the sour cream is what gives this recipe a true cheesecake flavor.
- Blueberry Sauce: In the photos I show the pudding with my Blueberry Sauce on top. Both recipes were developed together and I would recommend making the sauce.
Brian says
I made some changes too. I replaced the milk with coconut milk (full amount) along with half the recommended level of monk fruit sweetener. It worked great.
Christan says
We are doing keto/low carb because my husband is diabetic. I sub half and hlaf for the milk and use only two-thirds of the amount of sugar called for with monk fruit sweetener instead. He loves it. Obviously, I had to leave off the crumble, and we used strawberries instead of blueberries, but it’s amazing. I’ve also found that the pudding base is great start for other flavors as well. At the poihnt where the cream cheese is added, I put in a couple of squares of unsweetened baking chocolate or a couple of teaspoons of cocoa powder. I will say that both of these are bitter enough that I use the full amount of the sweetener and top with homemade whipped cream. Delicious!
LisaDoll says
PS
A favorite variation: add a little almond extract w that vanilla, and top w a dab of lemon curd in place of the blueberry.
LisaDoll says
I’ve made this more than once and it’s DELICIOUS!
So easy, too, if you have experience making custards and puddings .
Super creative recipe !
Thanks!
justalittlebitofbacon says
You’re welcome! It’s a favorite here too. 🙂
Chris Armentano says
I just made this for my neighbor who is dying of cancer, but craving cheesecake. I found this recipe and OMG it is absolutely delicious. I had a small amount leftover, I had to sample it first! I ate it warm, no crust or cookies. I did top with a few cherries. I followed your tips which made it so easy! I will be definitely making this again, and again. Thank you!
justalittlebitofbacon says
I’m so glad she (and you) enjoyed it! It’s one my favorite ways to satisfy a cheesecake craving too. Thanks for the feedback.
BigRed says
Creamiest , most delicious pudding dessert EVER!!
I’ve made it a few times :
First time I accidentally used three yolks – a HAPPY accident .
Second time I added a touch of almond extract. Third time I skipped the crumbs. Also served each bowl w a tiny dollop of sour cream and some lemon curd on top!
So easy to vary . A WINNER!
Thanks for the calories 🤣
Grace says
Perfect for a berry birthday trifle requested for tonight!
Rosa says
Delicious light creamy nice refreshing dessert
justalittlebitofbacon says
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it.