Chocolate Pudding

This is a good news and bad news post. The bad news first: I currently do not have an oven. I have not had one for several days and I won’t have one for another week. Allow that to sink in for a few moments. I’ll wait….I’m not sure you’re fully understanding this. I do not have an oven!!!! My oven is broken! It has passed on! It is a late oven! Do you have any idea how traumatic this situation is for me?!? How can I make my weekly loaf of sandwich bread? Or this granola? I can’t even keep these waffles warm and crisp!

Well, beyond all this panic, as I said, there is good news. The stovetop still works. That means I can at least cook every day. And that means I can make pudding for dessert. Pudding is usually comforting enough, but it does an even greater good when I can quickly make it with ingredients I usually have on hand and equipment that has yet to go to hell on me.

I don’t know if I’ve ever made chocolate pudding from scratch before. This is really a day for tragedies, I guess, because that’s quite painful to admit. And after I tasted this one, which is really basic and quite simple to throw together (who knew?,,,okay, I should have), my shame was complete. I have been an idiot to neglect such delicious loveliness just because I had the ability to bake things. It’s rich and creamy and nicely chocolate-y. It’s really, really hard to put down the bowl once you start digging in, which is part of the reason I cooled it in a big bowl, but served it in little ones.

This pudding gets its chocolate flavor from unsweetened cocoa powder, which I enhanced a bit with instant espresso. That little bit of intense coffee just gives the chocolate a boost, but I think if you want to go full mocha in your pudding, you could add even more. And speaking of adding flavor, do yourself a little educational favor and taste the pudding before and after adding the butter and vanilla. It just might give you an appreciation for those humble ingredients.

And I hope you’ve been a better human being than I and have always had an appreciation for good ol’ homemade chocolate pudding. Chocolate Pudding: it’s good news.

Chocolate Pudding

Adapted from Martha Stewart Everyday Food magazine

I used nonfat milk to make this pudding, but low fat or whole milk would be great, too.

You wouldn’t absolutely need the instant espresso in this recipe, but if you have some on hand, use some here.

2/3 cup granulated sugar
¼ cup cornstarch

¼ teaspoon salt

1/3 cup cocoa powder
2 ½ cups milk
4 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a medium size saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch and cocoa. Whisk together to combine. Slowly whisk in the milk making the mixture as smooth and lump-free as you can. Whisk in the egg yolks.

2. Heat the mixture over medium heat, stirring or whisking very frequently. I used alternately used a whisk (to keep things very smooth) and a rubber spatula (to keep things from sticking to the bottom of the pan) to stir. Continue heating and stirring until the mixture just begins to bubble and splatter. This takes about 20 minutes.

3. Remove from the heat. Whisk in the espresso powder. Whisk in the butter and vanilla extract, stirring until the butter has completely melted.

4. Pour into a medium-size bowl. (If you are picky, you can strain the mixture with a fine mesh sieve at this point. I didn’t bother.) Place a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the top of the pudding surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until completely cooled.

Makes 4 or 5 servings. Keep refrigerated for up to 3 days.

Another recipe like this one: Butterscotch Pudding