Chocolate Pudding
I’ve wanted to make American ‘chocolate pudding’ for ages because the ‘pudding mix’ is used extensively in baking and we don’t have it over here. There are hundreds of recipes for pudding from scratch, but I settled on one from ‘Diner Desserts’. It’s actually a section of the recipe for Chocolate Cream Pie. It’s so rich, I can’t imagine a slice of it with cream on top, but you know… never say never.
Describing it isn’t as straightforward as it seems. I was expecting a set chocolate custard, but it wasn’t that, nor was it blancmange. Somewhere between blancmange and ganache and deeply, deeply pleasing. The most fun I’ve had with a whisk for ages. Probably.
Put 1 1/4 cups of milk, 1 cup of sugar and 4 oz chopped (OK, I admit, I just snapped it into bits) dark chocolate into a medium saucepan over a low-medium heat.
Stir with a whisk to melt the sugar and chocolate.
Meanwhile, sift 3 level tbsp cornflour, 1 tbsp cocoa and a pinch of salt into a medium bowl.
Combine 1/2 cup double or single cream and 1/2 cup milk together. Add a little of that to the contents of the bowl and whisk to make a smooth paste. Gradually add the rest of the creamy milk, whisking as you go. You don’t want lumpy cornflour, so go slowly and whisk well. Keep an eye on that saucepan whilst you’re at it…
So, back to the saucepan. Once the sugar has melted and the chocolate has melted (it’ll still stay in little flecks, but there won’t be any solids, so to speak), take 1/2 a cup of it out
and whisking, with fear of lumps, add it to the creamy-milky cornflour
You’ve vaguely tempered it by doing that, so go ahead and add the bowl contents into the saucepan for cooking. Whisk, whisk, whisk.
Put the saucepan back on the heat and whisk it constantly. When it starts to bubble, continue to cook – whisking still – for another minute. It’ll get thicker and thicker!
After the minute has passed, whisk a tbsp of unsalted butter and a dash of vanilla extract into it – a matter of seconds.
Scrape the pudding into individual pots, ramekins, glasses, cups, whatever. The mugs you see are espresso sized and I didn’t fill them up – this stuff is rich, so don’t be too generous with the serving.
Press a piece of clingfilm to the surface of each pudding portion, cool them then sit in the fridge to chill. As an experiment, I left one uncovered because Ian loves the skin on rice pudding. No, don’t do it – pudding skin is very different – it’s tougher and interrupts the silkiness of the texture.
It is so chocolatey, such a treat. Delicious.
Chocolate Pudding
PRINT THIS RECIPE (opens in a new window)
adapted from part of a recipe in ‘Diner Desserts’
1 1/4 cups milk
1 cup caster sugar
4 oz dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped
3 level tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp cocoa
pinch salt
1 cup made up of 1/2 double cream and 1/2 milk
1 tbsp unsalted butter
dash of vanilla extract
Put the 1 1/4 cups of milk, sugar and dark chocolate into a medium saucepan over a low-medium heat.
Stir with a whisk to melt the sugar and chocolate.
Meanwhile, sift the cornflour, cocoa and salt into a medium bowl.
Add a little of the cream-milk mixture and whisk to make a smooth paste.
Gradually add the rest of the cream-milk mix to it – whisking all the time.
Once the chocolate in the saucepan has melted, take the pan off the heat and whisk 1/2 cup of the hot mixture into the cornflour mix.
Then pour, whisking constantly, the whole lot back into the saucepan to cook.
Put the saucepan back on the heat and whisk it constantly. When it starts to bubble, continue to cook – whisking still – for another minute.
Take the pan off the heat and drop the tbsp of butter in – whisk that in and then the vanilla extract.
Scrape the pudding into individual pots, glasses or dishes. It’s rich, so you might regret being too generous with the portions.
Press clingfilm on to the surface of each pudding to prevent a skin from forming. Cool, then chill in the fridge.
I would die if I had to make pudding like this. Thank you 2 minute pudding mix.
Lightweight!
2 minute pudding mix… sigh. We can dream.
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