I love tapioca pudding. I’m generally not a big fan of puddings, but tapioca was one of the few my mother made growing up, and since it’s not terribly sweet and goes wonderfully with fresh fruit I fell for it (growing up we would go to U-pick farms for strawberries and other berries, and after making the bulk of them into jam serving them over tapioca was second in awesomeness only to making them into pie).

In any case, this evening I found myself in need of something to serve with dessert crêpes since we didn’t have any ice cream in the house (a batch of crêpes split in half makes almost exactly two savory and two dessert crêpes, which is perfect for my girlfriend and me). I figured I’d try tapioca pudding, but I wasn’t eager to have plain tapioca pudding inside of plain crêpes.

One thing led to another, and I ended up with orange-flavored tapioca pudding, which is ridiculously good for a shot in the dark (I searched the internet prior to making it, but aside from learning that this is something a small number of people do I didn’t find any good recipes. If you like tapioca pudding and oranges, I highly recommend you give it a try.

Orange tapioca pudding recipe

(This is a lightly-modified version of the recipe on the Minute tapioca box; you could likely adjust it for use with other types of tapioca without much effort; the trick is substituting orange juice for most, but not all, of the milk.)

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons Minute tapioca
• 2 cups orange juice
• 3/4 cup milk (whole milk is best)
• 1 egg, beaten
• Pinch of orange zest (optional)

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Splash of orange flower water (optional)

Combine the sugar, tapioca, orange juice, milk, beaten egg, and orange zest (if you have a fresh orange on hand) in a medium pot and let it sit for five minutes.

Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly, until it comes to a full boil (boils while you are still stirring). Remove from heat. Stir in the vanilla and a little orange flower water (if you have any on hand).

Let the pudding cool for 20 minutes or so, then either eat it warm or refrigerate for later. I prefer it warm, my girlfriend prefers it cold.

I can say first-hand that this is absolutely divine served in dessert crêpes, garnished with orange zest, and drizzled with chocolate sauce. I fully expect the left-overs will be great on their own, too. If you’re really feeling fancy, slice up some fresh orange or other citrus-friendly fruit and serve it alongside or on top.