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Purin (Japanese Caramel Custard Pudding)

September 20, 2018 By Lokness 37 Comments

Purin (Caramel Custard Pudding) is a popular Japanese dessert. A smooth creamy custard pairs with a slightly bitter caramel sauce. Even if you don’t like caramel, you will fall in love with this pudding. Make them ahead and serve on a dinner party! 

We went on a very needed vacation to Maui last week. It was our first time in Hawaii. We spent a lot of time relaxing and eating good food. I am very inspired and have many new recipe ideas. I will share more about Maui in a few weeks.

For now, let’s talk about this purin dessert. “Purin” means “pudding” in Japanese. Although it’s called pudding, it’s more like a flan. Purin is very popular in Japan. You can easily find them in restaurants, grocery stores and even convenient stores. Some come in jars and some are served flipped like a flan on a plate.

Sanrio even created a character based on a purin. The character is a dog and named Pompompurin, which looks a lot like a purin with a yellow body and a dark brown beret. You can see him next to the purin in my pictures. He is so adorable!

In a purin, there are two layers. One is the custard. The custard is a mixture of eggs, heavy cream, milk and sugar. It became set after being baked in a water bath. It’s smooth, soft, and creamy. Then, there is the caramel sauce. It’s made from sugar and water. Sugar was melted until deep amber in color, then water was added. The caramel is like a hard candy when cooled. But when it was added to the glass jars and baked with the custard. The caramel turned into a sweet syrup with a slight bitterness. When pairing with the custard, the flavors reminded me of a crème brulee.

What I love about this purin is that it’s not too sweet and it’s pretty light. The amount of pudding is just right. They are served in individual jars and can be made 3 days ahead. It’s the perfect little sweet thing to end a dinner party. Even though Bryan and I are not a huge fan of caramel, this pudding tasted nothing like the caramel that we are used to. We love this dessert. I can’t say enough good things about this dessert. Hope you give them a try!

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4.38 from 8 votes

Purin (Japanese Caramel Custard Pudding)

Course Dessert
Cuisine Japanese
Keyword caramel, custard, dessert, japanese, purin
Servings 5 servings
Author Lokness

Ingredients

Caramel Sauce:

  • 30 grams sugar
  • 2 teaspoons water (divided)

Pudding:

  • 320 grams whole milk
  • 80 grams heavy cream
  • 80 grams sugar
  • 2 whole large eggs
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 300˚F (150˚C). Prepare 5 (4-ouces) glass jars or ramekins.
  • For the caramel, in a small saucepan, combine sugar and 1 teaspoon water. Cook over medium heat, stirring often with a high heat resistant rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Sugar will form clumps, but melt eventually into a dark amber color sauce. Add the 1 teaspoon water into the sauce. Be very careful, the caramel will bubble rapidly when water is added. Quickly divide the sauce into the glass jars as the caramel will harden. Don’t worry if not every jar have the same amount of sauce and the sauce is not spread evenly at the bottom.
  • Bring a kettle of water to a boil.
  • For the pudding, in a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and egg yolk until light foam begins to form. Set aside.
  • In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine milk, heavy cream, and sugar. Cook until sugar just melted, stirring often. Stir in vanilla extract (or vanilla bean paste). Gradually add all the milk mixture into the yolk mixture, whisking continuously.
  • Pour the mixture through a sieve into a large measuring cup. Remove bubbles with a piece of wax paper or parchment paper, by pushing it directly on top of the mixture and pulling it away. If needed, repeat one more time.
  • Divide the mixture evenly into the glass jars. Prepare a water bath. Put the glass jars into a large baking pan or roasting pan. Pour enough boiling water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the jars. Bake just until the purin is slightly puffed on top, but still jiggling in the center, about 30 to 35 minutes.
  • Carefully transfer the jars on to a cooling rack and cool until slightly warm. Cool in the fridge for at least 3 hours or until cold. Cover with plastic wrap when cool completely. Serve within 3 days.

Notes

  1. This recipe makes about 17 ounces of pudding.
  2. The glass jars I used is from buying Saint Benoit yogurt. I have been collecting them for a while. You can use ramekins, other small mason jars or even silicon molds, but make sure they are heatproof.
  3. When making caramel, be careful not to burn the sugar. Add the water when the sauce is deep amber in color.
  4. Divided the caramel into the jars quickly. As it cools, it will become too hard to scoop.
(Adapted from Cookpad)

Filed Under: Cook, Dessert/Sweet Tagged With: caramel, custard, dairy, egg, individual serving, japanese, make ahead, party, Pompompurin, pudding, purin

Previous Post: « Thai Coconut Curry Beef Noodle Soup
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Wendy says

    September 20, 2018 at 4:10 pm

    Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, Lokness. I am a major fan of flan and puddings in general but had never heard of purin. I am sure I will love it! Your photos make me want to grab a spoonful right through the computer! 🙂

    Reply
    • Lokness says

      September 21, 2018 at 4:10 pm

      They are so popular in Japan. You can find a huge selection in every convenient store. Smoothy & creamy! You will like how they taste. 🙂 <3

      Reply
  2. Madison Smith says

    September 27, 2018 at 3:17 am

    5 stars
    This is incredible recipe lokness…and it’s looks sooo good & more delicious…i will definitely make this for my kid….Thanks for sharing & keep shared your new amazing recipes….!

    Reply
    • Lokness says

      September 28, 2018 at 3:29 pm

      Thank you so much for your sweet comment, Madison! I love these pudding, hope you and your kids would too. 🙂

      Reply
  3. Shannon @ Love At First Bento says

    December 11, 2018 at 7:48 pm

    OMG I love how you put Pompompurin in your photos – soooo cute! And your purin looks absolutely FLAWLESS! I need to start collecting some little glass jars stat so that I can make a ton of these and eat them every day, they seriously look soooo good. Thanks so much for the recipe Lok, definitely saving it for later!

    Reply
  4. Jordan says

    February 10, 2019 at 4:12 pm

    5 stars
    I fell in love with these from a shop in Yudanaka, I like when they add bits of apple to them. They also sold purin ice cream but it was too cold to be eating ice cream.

    Reply
    • Lokness says

      February 16, 2019 at 8:25 pm

      Oh, apple is an interesting addition! I would love to see what purin ice cream tastes like. Sounds amazing! 🙂

      Reply
  5. alex says

    June 28, 2019 at 8:39 am

    this type of dessert is really common throughout latin america too thanks to the spanish. Japanese got it from the Portuguese. Portugal, france and spain fight over who the real creators are.

    Reply
    • Lokness says

      June 28, 2019 at 9:20 am

      Yes, it’s! It’s too hard to figure out who is the original. But all I know is purin is very popular in Japan. You can find them in every convenience stores. ?

      Reply
  6. Alice Beef says

    February 14, 2020 at 2:07 am

    5 stars
    I am looking for the caramel custard pudding to eat in the morning and your recipe is the great recipe for me. The taste is really good. Thank you so much for your sharing.

    Reply
    • Lokness says

      February 19, 2020 at 2:33 pm

      Thank you Alice for letting me how it went! I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed the pudding. Have a wonderful day! ?

      Reply
  7. Nini says

    March 3, 2020 at 12:15 pm

    1 star
    Are you from another country? I don’t want to have to convert everything. Besides…all this is is custard or a Creme Brulee. Moving on.

    Reply
    • Lokness says

      March 3, 2020 at 12:45 pm

      Thank you for taking the time to comment, Nini. I live in the US. I know it’s convenient to measure with tablespoons & cups. But when it comes to baking, accuracy is everything. Many baking blogs & cookbooks also use grams as measurement. Digital kitchen scale is pretty affordable these days, like $20. It’s totally worth investing in one!
      Japanese purin is not exactly like creme brûlée, it’s much lighter and a stronger caramel flavor. I would say it’s more like a flan. It’s different, yet delicious! ?

      Reply
  8. Grayerose says

    April 2, 2020 at 9:41 am

    Sounds delicious . May I know the temperature Of the oven when the pudding is inside ?

    Reply
    • Lokness says

      April 2, 2020 at 10:04 am

      The oven is preheated to 300˚F (150˚C) and it remains the same when baking. Hope you will give this a try!

      Reply
  9. Christi says

    April 24, 2020 at 1:08 pm

    5 stars
    Thank you so much for this recipe!

    I made this for my husband’s birthday as Japanese Purin is his all time favorite. The pudding came out perfect and we both devoured them all in a day.

    I did notice, however, after making it, that I missed the Vanilla Extract. It wasn’t included in the Instructions, so I completely forgot it. I’m planning to make another batch soon and was wondering when is the best place to add it? Perhaps in the milk mixture?

    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Lokness says

      April 24, 2020 at 1:39 pm

      Good catch on the vanilla! I completely forgot about that. I added it back to the recipe. Vanilla should be added to the milk mixture right before adding to the yolk mixture. Thank you!

      So glad that you guys liked it! This dessert is one of my all time favorites too! ? Have a great weekend!

      Reply
  10. Mars says

    August 4, 2020 at 5:17 pm

    4 stars
    So as of right now I’m letting the mixture cool before putting it in the fridge and I have to ask because I’m a but confused, by puffy do you mean it gets slightly firmer but not really? Because my pudin is still liquid and I think I might have overcooked it (I cooked it in the oven for 35) and now there’s a bit of brown on top, like a toasty color just floating around in pieces

    Reply
    • Lokness says

      August 4, 2020 at 5:34 pm

      Hi Mars! After baking, the purin should be almost set and the center should jiggle a little. “Puffy” means the center puffs up slightly, but shouldn’t take on any color. If they’re still liquidy, something may have gone wrong. It could be the water bath is not hot enough or the oven temperature is off. Let me know what they’re like after they are out of the fridge. Hope this helps.

      Reply
  11. phxcooks.com says

    August 4, 2020 at 11:51 pm

    5 stars
    Great recipe! I made it according to your recipe and the taste is great! Everyone in the family likes it, it makes me happy. Thank you

    Reply
    • Lokness says

      August 5, 2020 at 10:32 am

      Thank you so much! That’s awesome to hear that your family enjoyed these! I’m happy that they work out. Thanks for letting me know. Have a great day! ?

      Reply
  12. KGL Staff says

    August 19, 2020 at 11:25 pm

    your recipes continue to amaze me and have become favorites in our household. I cannot wait to see what else you come up with and we will forever continue to use your recipes!!! I CAN NOT WAIT for your cookbook to come out!!!!

    Reply
    • Lokness says

      August 24, 2020 at 1:28 pm

      Thank you so much for your kind words and your support! ?

      Reply
  13. Kristin says

    June 29, 2021 at 12:14 am

    5 stars
    I have tried this and it turns out well.
    Although I steam it instead of baking it and it turns out just fine. 🙂
    Thanks for sharing this recipe, I now have a go-to recipe for egg pudding.

    Reply
  14. Marissa Pranata says

    August 11, 2021 at 6:36 am

    Hi i tried your recipe but I reduced the sugar to 60 grams and I steam it for 10 mins and off the fire and leave it for another 10 mins with the lid on. the pudding came out with a perfect texture but i noticed there’s a layer of waxy fat on top. May I know how can i prevent the fat from the cream from separating?? Thanks alot.

    Reply
    • Lokness says

      August 20, 2021 at 3:36 pm

      Hi Marissa! I have only baked the pudding, so I’m not sure why it’s separating when being steamed. The only thing I can come up with is give the mixture a stir right before steaming. Not sure if this will really do the trick though.

      Reply
  15. Feli says

    July 7, 2019 at 2:59 am

    Thank u for the receipe Ms Lokness
    But can you help me? I did all the step in the receipe but my purin still liquid after baking ='(

    Thanks before

    Reply
  16. Lokness says

    July 7, 2019 at 6:32 am

    Hi Feli, I’m sorry to hear that. I would say to read the ingredient list to see if you have used everything. Then maybe check your oven temperature. Make sure the temperature is correct. If you used a bigger container, maybe bake a little longer. Did you have any trouble making the caramel bottom?

    Reply
  17. Kent says

    December 29, 2020 at 8:37 pm

    Hi, I was trying this recipe but it was liquid after 35mins in 300f what should I do I tried 350f for another 10 mins it was still liquid.

    Reply
  18. Lokness says

    December 29, 2020 at 9:10 pm

    Hi Kent, I would definitely cook for longer. The pudding should jiggle a little when shaking the glass.

    Reply
  19. Christina says

    December 31, 2020 at 9:46 am

    Hi Kent!

    From my experience, if you’re using larger containers it can take up to an hour (I’ve tried it with containers triple the size used in the recipe and just had to bake it longer). I also find the pudding kind of looks a little liquid-y when you first take it out of the oven (meaning it’s not supposed to be hard!). Once it cools, it’ll solidify a bit. Hope that helps!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Purin (Japanese Caramel Custard Pudding) says:
    September 30, 2018 at 5:27 pm

    […] Purin (Japanese Caramel Custard Pudding) […]

    Reply
  2. Japanese Custard Pudding Recipe #1 most captivating Purin - Simply Meals says:
    December 26, 2019 at 10:59 pm

    […] with the caramel sauce at the bottom before cooking. This was my third attempt and this one is from https://www.themissinglokness.com/2018/09/20/purin-japanese-caramel-custard-pudding/ This one turned out better than the one above but still not what I was quite looking […]

    Reply
  3. 2018 Top 6 Recipes | The Missing Lokness says:
    April 20, 2020 at 2:28 pm

    […] Purin (Japanese Caramel Custard Pudding) – This is my favorite dessert of the year! Creamy custard with a dark caramel sauce. […]

    Reply
  4. 21 Incredible Japanese Desserts • The Wicked Noodle says:
    March 19, 2021 at 7:45 am

    […] Purin (Japanese Caramel Custard […]

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  5. 17 Popular Japanese Desserts That Are Easy to Make says:
    April 18, 2021 at 11:32 am

    […] 15. Japanese Pudding (Purin) […]

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  6. 33 Best Asian Desserts - IzzyCooking says:
    May 25, 2022 at 6:29 am

    […] Japanese Pudding (Purin) […]

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Welcome! I'm Lokness. Currently live in Los Angles. Grew up in Hong Kong. Obsessed with chocolate & ice cream. Cooking is something I love. This is where I share my stories and recipes. Want to know more? Click here.
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