Pineapple Foster Pudding

My best friend Helen and her boyfriend Josh and I were having dinner one night.  She made the meat and potatoes and I was in charge of the dessert.  Do you see a theme here?  For some reason I was in the mood for something with pineapple (not knowing that Josh was not a fan of pineapple) and decided to make a pudding with pineapple on top.  I decided that a homemade rum pudding with a pineapple, brown sugar, bourbon topping would make a wonderful dessert.  Turns out, Josh likes pineapple when I make this dessert.  This was really quick and simple, I made this dessert in about 15 minutes.  The cooling time is the only thing that you need to take into account.  They need about 30 minutes to totally cool, but you can add the pineapple topping as soon as the pudding looks set.  Just remember to let the pineapple mixture cool a bit before you add it to the pudding.

Ingredients:
2 cups of milk, needs to be 1% or above, fat free won't work
1/2 cup white sugar or you can use a Splenda substitute, just follow the instructions for substituting
3 Tbsp of cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp dark rum, I used Meyer's dark rum

Pineapple topping
1 lg can of chunked pineapple, drained well, reserve 1 Tbsp of pineapple juice
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp of butter
2 Tbsp dark rum
pinch cinnamon
tiny pinch of salt


Add the milk to a sauce pan and while it is still cold, add the sugar, cornstarch, salt and butter.  Over low heat, stir the milk mixture on a regular basis.  You really don't want this to burn, so I would stir pretty often.  Once the milk starts to get warm, stir constantly.  When the mixture gets close to boiling, you will be able to tell by the texture, the pudding starts to get thicker and there may be bubbles.  At that stage, let cook for 2 to 3 minutes still stirring.  Remove from the heat, add the vanilla and the rum, stir and then pour into the ramekins.  Refrigerate immediately.

In a frying pan, add the brown sugar and butter and cook until liquid and hot.  Carefully add the pineapple and the pineapple juice.  Cook for approximately 6 to 7 minutes.  Add the dark rum, cinnamon, and salt.  Remove from heat and let them sit for about 5 minutes.  Pour on the top of the slightly cooled pudding.  Put back in the refrigerator and let cool.  Serve and enjoy!