This would be a five star recipe if not for all the sugar. I took advise from the other reviewer and cut the sugar by half and i could have cut out even more. I also cut the butter by half and may cut it out completely next time to save on fat grams. I'm not sure the butter is necessary. Oh, and i also cooked it on the stove instead of using the microwave. It didn't stick to the pan as packaged cooked pudding usually does. Easy and delicious dessert.

Great dessert, easily scaled down to fewer servings. I wasn't comfortable using the microwave directions so I made this using the conventional stovetop method. If you love chocolate eclairs with custard filling, banana cream pie, or hot fudge sundaes you will certainly swoon over this! My only criticism is that the pudding itself was too sweet. Reducing the sugar by half would have made this perfect. I did some research and sure enough, similar vanilla pudding or pastry cream recipes from a variety of sources call for about two tablespoons of sugar per cup of milk. This recipe calls for more than twice that!