Few things are more comforting or appealing than pudding — sweet, smooth, and satisfying. You’ll find my favorite basic stove-top pudding here, as well as rice pudding (both of which you can veganize), as well as a chocolaty tofu-based pudding and a no-cook chia pudding made with coconut milk.
Another childhood favorite is Jell-O, but since it’s made with gelatin (which is animal-based), it’s off limits to vegetarians. I’ve included a version here (called a gelée, after the word for jelly in French) that uses plant-based agar instead. Because almost any liquid — from fruit juice to tea — can be turned into the base for gelée, you can let your imagination run wild. And gelées need not only be eaten with a spoon: You increase the amount of thickener to make them stiffer, then cut them up once set and eat out of hand, or dice and add to anything from iced tea or juice to a dessert soup (pages 739 to 742).