Currently cooking out of Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich.
I grew up on burnt chocolate pudding that came out of a box. Back before there was instant chocolate pudding, there was the chocolate pudding that you actually had to cook on the stovetop. I remember my mom standing in front of the stove, stirring away, muttering. See, she had a habit of burning the pudding. It was a real godsend when the instant stuff came out that required no heat.
This recipe is mostly straightforward. You cook eggs, sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and milk, add in some vanilla and chopped bittersweet chocolate and then whiz everything for a few seconds in a food processor. I thought that last step was a bit fiddley, and I’d probably leave it out next time.
The pudding was good and chocolatey, but I’d call this more of a soup then a pudding. Don’t get me wrong, it was lovely. It just didn’t set. At all. You pretty much could bypass the spoon and drink it. I’m guessing I didn’t leave it on the stovetop long enough. This pudding could easily be adapted to include all sorts of other flavors, such as mint, mocha or even orange. It’s a good basic recipe.
Ok, you probably won’t believe this, since there are days when I’d rather have chocolate than oxygen… well, almost, but I don’t like chocolate pudding. Maybe I’ve just never had really good chocolate pudding. I have a really good recipe for home made pudding that’s easy enough for someone like me but super delicious. I use it to make banana cream pies. Maybe I should try the chocolate version and see what I think. I bet I could find someone to eat it if I didn’t like it!
Just tell your mom I kinda liked the taste of my pudding scorched a little. It gave it a flavor that I haven’t tasted in a very long time. Kinda miss it.