PUDDINGS A TO Z, by Marie Simmons, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston and New York, 1999, 96 pages, $17.

The proof’s in the pudding, especially when the pudding is prepared by Marie Simmons, author of many cookbooks, columnist for Bon Appetit, and winner of the James Beard and Julia Child Award.

In the fourth book in her A to Z series, Simmons features more than three dozen pudding recipes, from Indian pudding to panna cotta. She also includes in this charming book other nondessert selections, from onion custard to serve over salad greens, to rich corn pudding as a side dish.

“Puddings A to Z” offers sweet and savory puddings, custards, flans and mousses, beginning with the Pudding Alphabet: “A is for apple butter bread pudding with spiced apple cider sauce,” and continuing until “Z is for zucchini parmesan custard.”

This is not the first alphabet book Simmons has completed. Her A to Z Cookbook Series includes “Bar Cookies A to Z,” “Muffins A to Z,” and “Pancakes, A to Z,” which one hopes doesn’t include zucchini pancakes as the Z selection.

I intend to find out, for Marie Simmons’ four books will become part of the cookbook library in this home. The tiny book is a good read – she prefaces each recipe with personal comments or history of ingredients – and I find the photographs and calligraphy sparkling. Illustrative of these graphic additions, pictures of colorful pansies are sprinkled over two pages surrounding the July Fourth pudding directions.

Simmons offers some pudding wisdom as well, promising that the techniques “will make all your puddings go smoothly.”

Never add egg yolks directly to a hot mixture, she says, or they will curdle and overcook. All puddings made with an egg or gelatin base should be strained. Setting a custard cup, souffle dish or pudding dish in a shallow pan half-filled with hot water insulates the delicate mixture against the heat. Pudding should always be cooked over low heat and stirred gently to prevent scorching.

Those tips alone make “Puddings A to Z” worth the money. Add to them 40 recipes using simple ingredients, Simmons says, that we will find on our kitchen shelves, and we have a little gem well worth $17.

Since I’m skeptical of having the ingredients at hand, I turn first to my all-time favorite, butterscotch pudding, about which the author agrees: “Heaven in a custard cup is the way I feel about butterscotch.” So far, so good.

I won’t give away the recipe for Simmons’ “X” example: “X-traordinarily rich chocolate pudding, but you can imagine it, with 5 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, “preferably imported or best-quality, coarsely chopped.”

Her descriptions alone make my mouth water. “Bring out this pudding while it is still warm, or make

it ahead and serve cold. Either way

it is scrumptious. Serve with a spoonful of whipped cream or a drizzle of unwhipped heavy cream.”

Okay, I’m sold. Can I please lick the bowl … or at least the spoon?

Butterscotch Pudding

6 large egg yolks

1 cup heavy cream

1/3 cup packed, dark brown sugar

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

3/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup heavy cream, chilled

In the top of a double boiler, whisk the egg yolks until blended; set aside. Heat the cream in a small saucepan until hot; do not boil. Keep warm. Place the brown sugar and butter in a large, heavy skillet. Heat, stirring, until the butter melts and the mixture bubbles.

Cook, stirring, over medium-low heat for 2 minutes. Add the warm cream all at once. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir the mixture with a heatproof rubber spatula, scraping the bottom of the skillet and stirring until the mixture stops bubbling. Add the milk. Whisk the butterscotch mixture into the egg yolks until blended. Cook over gently simmering water, stirring gently but constantly, until the pudding thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon and reaches 165-170 degrees, about 15 minutes; do not boil.

Remove from the heat. Place a sieve over a large heat-resistant bowl and strain the pudding into the bowl. Add the vanilla and stir to blend. Pour the pudding into four, 5-ounce custard cups.

Cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate until chilled and set, about 4 hours or overnight.

Beat the chilled cream with an electric mixer until it forms soft peaks. Serve the pudding with a dollop of whipped cream.