Sunday, September 12, 2010

Something Scrumptious

I first started making homemade saucepan pudding when I was about twelve. Only back then it was vanilla. The recipe came from my mom's Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, which I would pull out every Wednesday night while she and my step-dad were at their weekly line dancing lesson, and I would sit in her big cozy bed and eat it while watching Rescue 911. It was a favorite ritual of mine.

Well, my love of homemade pudding continues, and now I share it with my children. There's something so warm and comforting about silky pudding fresh off the stove. My children would agree (tonight it was chocolate.)

Chocolate Saucepan Pudding

In a heavy medium saucepan, combine 3/4c. sugar, 2 Tbs. cornstarch, 1/3c. cocoa powder, and a dash of salt. In separate bowl, whisk 4 egg yolks and set aside.
Turn heat to medium and whisk in 3c. whole milk.
Cook and stir until mixture thickens and is bubbly. Add 1-2 oz. bitter or semi-sweet chocolate, cut up.
(I like Trader Joe's 72% dark Belgium chocolate.)
After mixture thickens to pudding consistency, temper eggs by removing 1c. of the pudding mixture and adding it to the bowl with the egg yolks. Whisk to combine and return yolk and pudding mixture to pan (you may want to remove pan from heat during this part so you don't burn your pudding.)
Cook and stir for another 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1 Tbs. butter and 2 tsp. vanilla (I used Mexican.)
Immediately transfer to another bowl and cover with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap onto the surface of your pudding so that no film will form. Place in fridge for 2-4 hours to cool.
Serve with fresh whipped cream. Rich and delicious!

4 comments:

  1. I loved making that, too! I still make it from time to time as an adult. Your's looks much yummier than I remember, though.. all that dark chocolate! I'll bet it was DELICIOUS!

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  2. uhm, that looks amazing. Making some tonight! yum. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

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  3. *ahem* do I have to wait for it to cool? This is delicious....and super easy to make.

    Awesome recipe Lisa, feel free to e-mail me the vanilla version?

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  4. Glad you liked it Katie! Ours was gone in one night. For the vanilla, you omit the chocolate and cocoa (obviously,) use 3 Tbs. of cornstarch instead of 2, and you can use 2 whole eggs instead of the 4 yolks (you will still temper them the same way by mixing in some of the hot pudding.) I prefer using yolks only though, otherwise you might end up with little bits of scrambled egg in your pudding. Be sure to whisk fast once you add the eggs for the smoothest texture. Enjoy! : )

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