Chocolate Pudding√

November 1, 2008 - Important Update!

Here's my new improved foolproof chocolate pudding recipe. I made a huge bowlful in about 10-15 minutes while Ellen did the washing up. It's a grown up pudding - very chocolatey and not too sweet. I preferred it hot.

9 oz chocolate: 4 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips and 4 oz of 60% bittersweet chocolate chips and 1 oz cocoa powder (you can play with the quantities according to what you have in your pantry and your taste preferences of course - more or less chocolate or more or less bittersweet etc.)
3 eggs
5 cups milk
1 cup half and half
6 oz sugar
2 tbsp and 1 tsp cornstarch
pinch salt

Whisk the eggs into the milk and strain into a saucepan.
Turn on low to start gently heating the milk.
Add the sugar and salt and whisk.
Add the chocolate chips and stir from time to time while you attend to measuring and whisking the cornstarch and cocoa powder into the half and half. Once the chocolate chips have completely melted strain the cornstarch mixture into the pan.

Now step up to the pan and stay there until the pudding is done, stirring continuously so it doesn't stick or burn. You can increase the heat to speed up the process but do so very carefully and don't let it 'boil.' You can whisk it from time to time if it gets a bit lumpy.

Pour it into a beautiful bowl and serve warm with whipped cream.
Or let it cool - cover the bowl with a kitchen towel while it cools otherwise a skin forms within minutes and if you cover the bowel with a plate or clingfilm the condensation will drip back down onto it.
You can also chop bananas into it and sprinkle it with raspberries if you want to make it a bit healthier!

Scaled down quantities for just a couple of people (or one very greedy person):
1 1/2 cups milk
1 egg
2 oz sugar
small pinch salt
3 oz chocolate chips
1/2 oz cocoa powder
3 tsp cornstarch
1/2 cup half and half

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Chocolate pudding isn't really an English thing or rather it isn't something I'd ever come across until I came across to the States. A few months ago I felt like making a pudding - a chocolatey treat. I decided to have a go at making a chocolate pudding - I was in too much of hurry to look up a recipe, thinking also 'how difficult could it be ... isn't it just a thick, chocolate-flavored custard?' So I threw a custard together and chucked in a whole bunch of dark chocolate, then added more milk, more sugar and a bit more corn starch until it had a good texture and a great taste. Afterwards I checked the recipes and was enchanted to find that mine wasn't so very different!

I got into a lot of trouble doubling up the recipe below to make enough for 10-12 people. I didn't have 8 ounces of chocolate so used 4 oz. of dark chocolate and 4 oz. of cocoa. I forgot that cocoa acts like flour and ended up having to add a ton more milk to thin it and some more sugar (don't ask how much) until it tasted just perfect (sweet but not too sweet). I ran out of milk and had to use some half and half.

I ended up with an obscene amount of pudding - it filled a big bowl right to the top. By the end of the evening we were eating it straight out of the bowl and there was only a little left for my morning indulgence.

4 oz. 60-70% chocolate + 1/4 cup of water - melt in a double boiler - stirring continuously.
Beat 1 large egg into 2 cups milk (or 1 1/2 cups milk and 1/2 cup half and half or cream)
Strain into the double boiler and mix into the chocolate
Add 2 oz. soft brown sugar, a pinch of salt and 1 tsp. of good vanilla
Mix 3 teaspoons of cornstarch into a little cold water and add to the mix
Stir until it thickens

Here's what - if you turn your back on it for even a minute lumps form and you'll have to whisk it in a panic. Here's really what - I always get completely bored with the whole double boiler thing and end up pouring it into a pan and then I bring it to a quick and little simmer, whisking like a mad woman all the while. People in a kitchen frenzy do not stand over a double boiler for 30 minutes waiting for their puddings to thicken.
Once it's nice and puddingy the cook has to eat a warm bowlful straight from the pan. Those are the rules.
A lot of recipes use a mix of cocoa powder and semi-sweet chocolate. I prefer the more intense and grown up taste of a dark chocolate pudding.

Postscript!
I happened upon a Chocolate Pudding being cooked up on TV late last night and saw it being treated with great reverence. Apparently you must ALWAYS cook chocolate very gently in a double boiler and you must NEVER whisk it else you will ruin it completely. Guess what. I simmered it in the pan. Then it got a bit lumpy so I whisked it. Repeatedly. Nobody complained.