Recently I was having guests over for dinner and thought that I would make chocolate pudding for dessert. I’ve made chocolate pudding before and it’s always a hit. I even remember making it in “home economics” a thousand years ago – in fact it’s the only thing i remember making in that class!!

I searched online (of course ) for a recipe and after reading thru a few recipes  I found  “the winner” (as I call it). Its from overthehillandonaroll. By the way – this blog has some kick-ass photos and recipes. Worth taking a peek at (in my humble opinion).

Here is the recipe…which by the way, will not take more than 10 minutes to prepare.

CHOCOLATE PUDDING:

Ingredients:

2/3 cup white sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened dutch process cocoa (I bought Ghirardelli –  spent a few extra $$ but thought it would make a difference)

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups whole milk

4 large egg yolks

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate

DIRECTIONS:

1. Whisk egg, sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt in a medium saucepan.

2. Whisk in milk, taking care to dissolve the cornstarch.

3. Whisk in egg yolks.

4. Put the saucepan over medium heat and whisk constantly (and I mean constantly) till the first large bubble spurts. This takes about 8 minutes.

5. Reduce heat to low, and whisk one more minute.

6. Remove from heat and immediately pour thru a sieve into a bowl.

7. Add butter, vanilla and bittersweet chocolate and stir till smooth

8. Place plastic wrap onto the surface so that a film doesnt appear, chill for 3 hours (or up to 3 days).

Before serving, shave a few sprinkles of chocolate on top or add real whipped cream for additional “wow factor”.

Hope you get a chance to try this recipe soon.  It’s so EASY and so GOOD.

GO FOR IT – try it – you will like it!!

Share this:

While visiting Grocery Innovations a few weeks ago, a dark chocolate milk by Natrel, caught my eye. I mean – how genius is this? EVERYONE seems to love chocolate and there is no question that dark chocolate has been popular over the last few years. Subsequently I found out, that this product was voted at the show, as one of the 10 most innovating products for 2012. Well – they have my vote too!! Natrel – you rock!!

I coudn’t wait for this to hit the grocery shelves and indeed I saw it this week, while visiting the IGA in the Beach! (oh how I love my job). Naturally I bought a litre and then bought the Sealtest regular chocolate milk to do a quick comparison. As you know, I’m always up for a taste test!!

Here’s my findings; (sorry, the panel only consisted of me)

Sealtest 1% milk chocolate: lighter on the palate, watery, and the color almost looks like silly putty

Natrel Dark Chocolate: thick, rich, sweet and it looks like dark chocolate!!

I don’t know who thought of this dark chocolate idea – but I really do think its clever. Don’t you?

What I’m not fond of is the packaging. They added a 5th side and it just feels weird when you pick it up. Plus I’m not crazy about the fact that that it’s got a shelf date till JAN 2012. Milk should have a shorter life span unless its in a tetra box. It’s just weird to know that I bought it on Nov 8 2011 and its good till January 2012.

Sadly I’m lactose intolerant (I whine about this a lot) so I wont be enjoying this milk as much as I would like. However I’m eager to use it in a chocolate pudding recipe next week!! I’ve already told my guests that I’m making chocolate pudding and I’m sure this dark chocolate milk will make the dessert even better!!

It really is a winner and I’m sure that this product will be flying off the shelf. I just wonder why nobody thought of this earlier?

Share this: