Tembleque (Coconut Pudding)

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Hispanic, Puerto Rican

Keyword: coconut, dessert, pudding

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 4

chilling time: 2

Total Time: 2 14

Servings:

Calories: 411kcal

Tembleque is a Puerto Rican dessert made of pure coconut milk, flavored with warm spices and a hint of citrus.

It's a staple recipe in Puerto Rico, especially around Christmas.

Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of water to the mold that will hold your tembleque.
Move the water around in the mold to moisten it making sure to get the center tube if your pan has one.
Once you've wet the inside of the mold, leave the excess water to pool at the bottom of the mold and set it aside.
Alternatively, spray your mold with a neutral-tasting, non-stick cooking spray (coconut oil is recommended) and set aside.

Pour 3 cups of the coconut milk into a 3 or 4-quart saucier.
To the coconut milk in the pot, add the orange peel, the cinnamon stick, ginger slices, star anise, whole cloves, nutmeg, and salt.
Bring this mixture up to a simmer over medium-high heat. The fat solids in the coconut will begin to separate a bit, which will make the liquid look curdled. That's totally normal.
Allow the coconut milk to simmer for a full 2 minutes. If it starts to boil, reduce the heat to medium-low.
Stir the coconut milk once or twice during that 2-minute simmer, then turn the stove off.
Use a whisk to stir in the sugar into the coconut mixture, then allow the spices to steep in the hot coconut milk for 5 minutes.

While the spices steep in the coconut milk, make the cornstarch slurry.
Add the remaining cup of coconut milk to the cornstarch in a bowl in a steady trickle, whisking constantly as you pour the coconut milk into the cornstarch to avoid clumps from forming.

Use a slotted spoon or a small strainer to remove the whole spices from the coconut milk in the pot.
Turn the stove on to medium heat.
Add the cornstarch slurry to the coconut milk in a slow, steady trickle, stirring constantly.
Once all the slurry has been stirred in, allow the tembleque to come up to steaming. Continue stirring constantly, paying close attention to the sides, which heat up faster. Incorporate the slurry from the outside of the pan into the center.
After about 1 1/2-2 minutes, the tembleque will thicken to the point where it resembles mayonnaise.
Remove the pot from the stove, and stir in the vanilla extract. Continue stirring for 30 seconds to cool the pudding slightly.

Pour the hot tembleque into the moistened/greased mold, pouring around the mold to ensure it's added in an even layer.
The water will rise up around the pudding to create a barrier that will make de-panning easier. Greased pans will not have rising water.
Set the uncovered pan into the fridge and allow it to chill and set up completely, or anywhere from 2-4 hours.
After 2 hours, or when it's no longer emitting heat, you can cover it with plastic wrap.
When you're ready to remove the tembleque from the mold, tilt the pan in a circular motion to loosen the pudding from its sides.
Dip the bottom of the pan in hot water for 1-2 minutes.
Leave the tembleque inverted until you hear a "schloop!" come from the pan. That's how you know your tembleque is unmolded.
Garnish the tembleque with a sprinkle of ground cinnamon and slivers of coconut.
Serve chilled.

Swaps and Substitutions:

Use canned coconut milk instead of fresh coconut milk.
Use cinnamon sticks only (omit the other spices and orange peel).
Replace the orange peel with lime or lemon peel.
You can increase the sugar to 1 1/4 cup if you like a very sweet tembleque.
You can thicken tembleque replacing the cornstarch with arrowroot powder using the same measurement called for. The biggest downside to using arrowroot is that it doesn't hold for extended periods.
Tapioca flour (cassava or yuca flour) is a better option for a replacement thickener. Double the amount to 1 cup of tapioca flour to use in this recipe. Tapioca flour holds considerably well and also freezes well.
Use almond, coffee, orange, or rum extract instead of vanilla extract.

To use ground spices replace the whole spices with:

Tips and Techniques:

If the tembleque is too thin after you add the slurry, allow it to simmer for 30 seconds to a minute longer. If it's not at all thick, make more slurry with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch stirred into 1 tablespoon of cold water. Add it the same way as before and see if that thickens it up.
Metal pans are ideal for making tembleque because they are great conductors, so the pudding chills faster and more evenly.
A flexible silicone mold can be used, but it may cause you to break the tembleque when you remove it from the mold.
Don't use a mold that's super intricate in it's design. The tembleque is more likely to get stuck in a pan with a lot of details.
Tembleque only takes 2 hours to set up enough to unmold, but chilling it for at least 4 hours is recommended.
If you don't hear a schloop within 3 minutes, flip the pan right-side up and go around the outside of the pudding and where the tube is with the tip of a paring knife or toothpick to loosen it. Invert the pan once again and wait for the schloop.
If the schloop never happens, it means that you didn't moisten the pan well enough. So you will have to scoop the tembleque from the pan with a spoon to serve it.
Tembleque is always dusted in ground cinnamon before serving. You can also garnish it with slivers of coconut or with toasted coconut flakes or a drizzle of chocolate sauce, cajeta, caramel, or smooth guava paste.

To Make Mini Tembleques (makes 6-8 depending on mold size):

Set 3 or 4-ounce molds on a sheet pan.
Pour the hot pudding into the moistened mold and transfer the sheet pan with the molds into the fridge.
Chill the tembleque for at least 3 hours before unmolding.

Storage Instructions:

Tembleque is served cold, so store it in the fridge lightly covered or in a container until you're ready to indulge.

Freezer Instructions:

After unmolding and before garnishing it with cinnamon, flip it out of the pan and into a freezer-safe container that has a lid, then wrap the container in plastic.
Freeze the tembleque for up to 1 month.
Thaw the frozen pudding in the fridge overnight. Some liquid may seep out after thawing. Just use a paper towel to blot it up.
Garnish and serve as desired.