Crockpot Tapioca Pudding - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1/2 gallon milk (1%)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup pearl tapioca
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
cinnamon (optional) or nutmeg (optional)

Preparation

Combine the milk, sugar, and tapioca pearls in crockpot (4 quart size or larger). Stir thoroughly, cover and cook on high for approximately 3.5 hours, or until the tapioca is soft but the mixture is still runny.
Mix the eggs with the vanilla in a separate bowl. In order to avoid having scrambled eggs in your pudding by adding the eggs directly into the hot pudding mixture, \"temper\" the eggs by gradually whisking a total of 2 cups of the hot milk and tapioca mixture into the bowl containing the eggs. This brings the eggs up to temperate slowly. Once the eggs have been tempered in this fashion, pour them into the slow cooker and whisk the whole mixture thoroughly.
Cover and cook on high for another 45 minutes, or until the tapioca is pudding-like in consistency. Turn off slow cooker and let it sit for 1 hour to cool. Spoon into dishes and chill thoroughly in the refrigerator before serving. I love serving it while it's still warm during the wintertime. Sprinkle a little cinnamon and/or nutmeg on top, if desired. Enjoy!