Tapioca Pudding

I wanted some basic creamy comfort food for dessert after a cold, hard, long day.  Tapioca in a slow cooker is nearly foolproof compared to stove top versions.  When I went to Winco earlier in the week, they had small pearl tapioca in the bulk bins.  They also had organic pure cane sugar.  I had my 1/4 cup measure with me, so I scooped up just enough to make a small 4 serving batch.  The bulk bin prices were much cheaper than regular beet based non organic sugar and boxed tapioca.  Victory on 2 fronts, quality and budget.

Winner, Loser or Meh

This is evil good.  Did I say evil?  How evil?   I think I want this for breaky tomorrow instead of left over Raisin Congee.  I love this warm.  I am sure it will be good cold, but man is this good warm. I have a huge sweet tooth, and served warm, this may have been too sweet.  Adjusting to 1/3 cup of sugar or (for those who don't like sweet) even 1/4 cup probably have worked.  I ate this the next day, cold, and it didn't seem overly sweet when served cold.

Recipe

Use a small crock pot for this. My small crock is very old and cooks much slower than new models, so adjust the time down by an hour for the first portion of cooking if using a newer model.

If you double the recipe, use a medium newer crock pot and cook for 3 hours, then 30 minutes to 1 hour after addition of egg.

Ingredients

• 2 cups 1% milk
• 1 Tbls butter (I only did this because I had intended to use regular milk)
  
• 1/4 cup small pearl tapioca (not instant)
• 1/2 cup sugar (I used organic pure cane)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg

Spray the crock with no stick spray.  Place the first 5 ingredients in the crock pot and stir it a bit to mix things up.  Cover and cook on low for 3 hours (see above notes on sizes and age of crock pot)

When the pearls have absorbed most of the milk and are mostly translucent, stir with a fork to break up any clumps.  Beat the egg in a small bowl and add one or two tablespoons of the hot mixture into the egg and stir completely. This will keep the egg from cooking instantly when it hits the contents of the crock pot.  Stir in egg mixture. Cook on low for another 30 minutes to an hour.  Turn off the heat, and let it sit for about 30 minutes with the lid ajar. Serve warm, or store and refrigerate, covered and serve cold.