For most of my adult life, I've had a fairly basic pudding recipe that I've long followed:
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1 cup sugar
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1.5 teaspoon corn starch
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Blend the above together before adding liquid to avoid corn starch clumps
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1 cup milk
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1/2 teaspoon of butter
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a pinch of salt
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Bring the above ingredients to a boil on medium heat, add 1/2 of the mixture to a bowl with 2 egg yolks, whisk until blended, return the separated half to pan, stir and chill.
For years, this has been largely fine, though I've encountered problems with the cornstarch refusing to thicken in the past. However, recently I haven't been able to get this recipe to work no matter what I do, because the corn starch absolutely refuses to thicken.
I've done my research and see that corn starch will fully thicken around 200-205 degrees Fahrenheit and will break down if stirred too much. I've used a candy thermometer to get to the exact temp alongside very infrequent stirring, and still my pudding outright refuses to thicken, and comes out just a bit thicker than milk at the end of the recipe, and won't thicken to any appreciable degree if chilled. I used to be able to make this stuff and have it get pudding-like in the pan without any issue, but now it absolutely refuses to actually work!
Thank you in advance for any help that you may be able to offer.
