I love this recipe. It is the perfect light, spring time dessert. I wish that lilacs were not so ephemeral and I could enjoy it more than just a few weeks a year.

Makes 5 small puddings

Lilac Water:
½ cup (120g) boiling water
½ cup rinsed lilac blossoms

Lilac Jelly Topping:
½ tsp (1.25 g) gelatin
2 tbs hot water
½ cup (120 g) lilac water
2 tbs granulated sugar
15-20 fresh lilac blossoms, washed
red and blue food coloring for color (optional)

Coconut Milk Pudding:
2 tsp (5 g) gelatin*
4 tbs hot water
¼ cup (40 g) granulated sugar
¾ cup (180 g) coconut milk
¼ cup (120 g) milk
¼ cup (120 g) heavy cream

Make Lilac Water:

1. Remove ½ cups worth of lilac blossoms from the stems. Dunk into cold water then drain to remove any dirt, bugs, etc.
2. Place washed lilacs in jar then add on top ½ cup of boiling water. Allow to rest in dark place for minimum 2 hours, but ideally overnight.

When Lilac Water is ready
Make Pudding:

1. Combine ½ tsp (1.25 g) gelatin with 2 tbs hot water in a small jar. Set aside to bloom for 5 minutes.
2. Combine ½ cup of lilac water (if you followed the recipe above this will be all of it) and 2 tbs sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until sugar dissolves then bring to just before a simmer.
3. Once mixture is almost simmering, remove from heat and add in bloomed gelatin (and food coloring if using). Stir until completely dissolved.
4. Evenly distribute the mixture into ramekins. Place lilac flowers in jelly mixture then place in fridge. Of note, the flowers will float a little. If you care more about the exact placement then put jelly in fridge for 5-10 minutes to thicken up then remove and place flowers. Place back in fridge.
5. Combine 2 tsp (5 g) gelatin with 4 tbs hot water in the same small jar you used before. Set aside to bloom for 5 minutes.
6. Combine ¼ cup (40 g) granulated sugar, coconut milk, milk, and heavy cream in the same small saucepan you used before over medium heat. Stir until sugar dissolves then bring to just before a simmer.
7. Once mixture is almost at a simmer, remove from heat and add in bloomed gelatin. Stir until combined.
8. Set on counter and allow to cool. This can take a while. You can rush the process by putting in the fridge but make sure to keep an eye on it by stirring every once in a while to make sure it doesn’t thicken too much.
9. Once it has cooled (and possibly slightly thickened) remove the ramekins with the lilac jelly from the fridge and put even amounts of the coconut milk mixture into each.
10. Place back in fridge and cool until pudding sets, at least an hour.
11. Serve by allowing the pudding to warm up slightly at room temperature until you can flip over the ramekin and it falls out or rush the process by dunking the ramekin for a few seconds in boiling water. (Or you can just be lazy and eat straight out of the ramekin.)

A few additional notes:

Make sure that the coconut milk you use has not separated. If you do have chunks of fat in it you will find that, even though in the heating process it will diffuse through the milk solution, when you cool it in the fridge again the fat will rise to the top and you will have a fat layer on the pudding.

Taste your lilac blossoms before you cook with them. Some plants produce more bitter flowers than others. Make sure your flowers aren’t too bitter or you won’t enjoy the jelly top. I have figured out what of my plants I prefer to cook with and which are just for the lovely smell.

Ramblings:

I published the first version of this post three years ago in my first month of blogging. It was the first time I had ever made my own pudding or worked with lilacs. Back then, I was happy with it, but my tastes have changed since and I notice that each time a make that recipe, or something similar, I now use less gelatin. Plus, I have to be honest with myself, my old directions weren’t that clear.

The original post, however, had a lot more than just the pudding recipe. It also had the descriptions of my lilac experiments and why I decided to go with a lilac infusion to get flavor into the jelly portion of this dessert (Hint: it was less bitter made this way). For this reason, I decided to leave that post as is rather than update it completely. Plus, it is fun to be able to see how my cooking and aesthetic have changed in three years. If you want to know why I decided to go with the lilac infusion described below, even though it takes more time, go back and read the beginning of that post.