Chocolate Pudding

This is a homey dessert and comforting and easy to put together. One warning here. Don’t make it more than a day or two before serving and eating, it will lose it’s puddingy texture if left in the fridge too long and will start “weeping” not a thing to be desired.

Now I did serve it to kids but also to adults so I snuck in an adult upgrade which if you don’t care for it, you can skip. Secret ingredient? Coffee. This, imho elevates and intensifies the chocolate flavor and makes it a more adult treat. However, if you prefer without, you simply skip it. This can be served in individual servings (like a pretty tea cup or other small cups) or in a larger bowl for people to spoon out their own, I’ve done both. So gather your ingredients and forward!

Just a note, above I show you the (non-dairy) whipping cream which doesn’t go into the pudding but rather you make on the side as a whipped topping. You can use real whipping cream for a dairy dessert. K, onward.

Take your sugar and cold whipping cream and place together in bowl. Start whipping together on medium high speed.

Keep going till cream is nicely whipped and makes soft mounds like so:

K. This is ready so cover with plastic wrap and pop into the fridge. It will wait patiently for you to make your pudding. On to the pudding we go!

Yep, yep, put the dry ingredients straight into the pot. The sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, salt and coffee (if using it). Dontcha love it? No extra bowls. K. Stir well together.

Good, now turn on the heat under the pot and slowly add whichever milk you choose to use (oat, or whole regular milk), whisking all the while, cooking on medium heat until the pudding starts to thickens nicely and add the chocolate chips whisking till melted very briefly and check that the mixture has come to a pudding-y consistency.

Remove from the fire and add the butter or marg and the vanilla or almond extract, as you prefer. Stir in.

Let cool and place into your serving dish of choice (either individual or a large glass bowl is elegant) and cover with plastic wrap right on the pudding itself to prevent a skin from forming. Serve with whipped cream on top.

Chocolate Pudding

2/3 cup (150 grams) white sugar

1/2 cup (50 grams) cocoa powder (unsweetened)

1 teaspoon powdered espresso coffee (optional)

1/3 cup (40 grams) cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

3.5 cups (850 ml) oat milk or full fat whole milk

2/3 cup (115 grams)  chocolate chips

2 tablespoons butter/margarine

2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon almond extract

Sweetened whipped cream:

1 cup whipping cream (or non dairy alternative)

2 tablespoons sugar

Directions

Put sugar, cocoa, coffee powder (if using), cornstarch and salt in a medium pot and combine well. Turn the fire on medium. While whisking, gradually add oat (or soy) milk. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook all the while whisking for about 2-3 minutes or till mixture begins to thicken nicely. Add the chocolate chips and whisk in till melted in. Remove pot from the fire and stir in butter/margarine and vanilla or almond extract. Now you can either put this in individual cups or you can put it in to a bowl, preferably glass, and cover with plastic wrap making sure it touches top of pudding (to prevent a nasty skin from forming) and put in fridge to cool.

For the sweetened whipped cream, take COLD cream or non dairy whipping cream and whip together with the 2 tablespoons of sugar on medium high till thick soft peaks form. Cover with plastic wrap. Keep chilled in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Serve pudding with mounds of whipped cream on top.