Slow Cooker Tapioca Pudding

Ah, the power of the slow cooker!

I haven't been using my slow cooker lately and I realized how big of a shame it is! What an ingenious idea to be able to put in all your yummy ingredients and just leave it to come home to a delicious meal! mmmmm

This past weekend, I decided to use up some extra stuff in the pantry and make some tapioca pudding in the slow cooker. It was delicious! (And also my first attempt at tempering eggs- how exciting!)

The recipe follows (thank you allrecipe.com):

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4 cups whole milk

2/3 cups white sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup small tapioca pearls

3 egg yolks

1. Whisk the milk, sugar, vanilla extract, salt, and tapioca pearls in a slow cooker until the sugar has dissolved. Turn the cooker to high setting, cover with lid, and cook for 2 hours. (If preferred, set on low setting and cook for 4 hours. Stir pudding occasionally during cooking.)
2. Place egg yolks into a bowl, and whisk until smooth. Mix about 1 tablespoon of the hot pudding into the egg yolks until thoroughly combined; continue gradually mixing hot tapioca pudding into the egg yolks, slowly increasing the amount of pudding mixed in, until the yolks and pudding total about 2 cups. Slowly pour the yolk mixture into the pudding in the slow cooker until blended, whisking constantly until the egg yolks have thickened the pudding, about 5 minutes.
3. Place lid back on the cooker, and continue cooking until the pudding is your desired degree of thickness, on high setting for about 30 more minutes (or low setting for 1 more hour).

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Since I have a little small slow cooker, I halved the recipe and used one whole egg instead of 3 egg yolks. 

This recipe was very exciting to me because it was my first time I tempered eggs! It didn't turn out as bad as I thought it would!

The pudding is perfectly sweet and creamy and is the perfect classic tapioca pudding. The egg tempering is a little tricky, but with a little bit of practice, you'll be a pro! I was always scared about tapioca, I hear you can cook it wrong and have it come out to be a clumped up mess.. but with this recipe, it's a cinch!

Have some spare time over the weekend? Think about trying simple recipe out!

Time: 15 minute prep, 5 hours cook time

Taste: A

Diffculty: Easy