Chocolate Pudding
I can remember when my kids were babies and I was feeding them baby food. I used to love, LOVE the chocolate arrowroot custard that you could get for them. I am sure you can't get any such thing now for babies, but forty odd years ago, you could. And it was very good. Yes, I ate it too. Bad mommy. Bad, bad mommy.
I am not a huge fan of chocolate milk, or chocolate ice cream for some odd reason, but chocolate pudding? I am all over it, and in this case I mean pudding in the North American sense of the word, not the British. I mean that milky dessert that you can spoon into your mouth like a smooth sweet delicacy . . . all chocolatey and milky and rich.
Back home you can buy box mixes for it, much like you can get custard mix over here. They come in a cooked version and an instant version, and pretty much that is what I grew up having. I think it was in school Home Economics class that I tasted my first from scratch chocolate pudding and it was love, Love, LOVE at first taste!
There is nothing so delicious on earth as homemade from scratch chocolate pudding, with no preservatives or additives . . . not unless you are talking about homemade butterscotch pudding or vanilla pudding. They are equally as moreish!
I was reading a very old recipe for it the other day from a Woman's Day cookery book on desserts that suggested pouring a very thin layer of heavy cream on top of the pudding after you put it into the serving dishes to help prevent a skin from forming on the top. Oh boy, I thought, that sounds really good and so I did . . . just that.
Talk about manna from heaven. This was gorgeous. Every last mouthful. Make sure you use unsweetened dark chocolate for this, not milk chocolate candy bars. They would be overly sweet.
As Goldilocks would say . . . this is just right. So there! Rich. Milky. Chocolaty. Just right.
*Chocolate Pudding*
Serves 4
Drop the chocolate bits into a saucepan with a heavy base. Add the milk. Cook, whisking, over low heat, heating it gradually and allowing the chocolate to melt slowly. It may appear somewhat grainy, but don't worry, it will smooth out in the finished pudding.
Combine the sugar, cornflour, salt and egg in a large bowl. Gradually whisk in the chocolate milk mixture, whisking constantly. Return to the pan and continue to cook over low heat, whisking constantly until the mixture is smooth and has thickened, and has begun to boil. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and let stand for several minutes to cool slightly then whisk in the vanilla.
Pour into pudding dishes and cover with a thin layer of heavy cream. (This helps to prevent a skin from forming and tastes delicious.) Refrigerate until well chilled before serving.
Once again, do NOT be tempted to use chocolate chips. They would not give you as glorious a finish as this. Trust me.
Happy eating and Bon Appetit!
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