Chocolate Pudding

I am a huge fan of cook-and-serve Royal Dark and Sweet chocolate pudding.  It's easy (use the microwave directions!), quick and tastes great.  So I never even attempted to try making my own pudding from scratch, but I was feeling adventurous one day and didn't have any of my beloved pudding mix left in the pantry.  So when I realized that I had all of the ingredients on hand to make Dorie's Chocolate Pudding - I decided to give it a shot. 
What was I waiting for?!
It did not even compare to the mix - it was out of this world good!  I cannot believe I went this long in my life without trying to make my own pudding.   It was so smooth and chocolately - it was perfection in a bowl.    I will be making this again...and again...and again.....

Ingredients

• 2 ¼ cups whole milk
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 2 large egg yolks
• 5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and still warm
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Bring 2 cups of the milk and 3 tablespoons of the sugar to a boil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan.
2. While the milk is heating, put the cocoa, cornstarch and salt into a food processor and whir to blend. Turn them out onto a piece of wax paper.
3. Put the remaining 3 tablespoons sugar, the egg and egg yolks into the processor and blend for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the remaining ¼ cup milk and pulse just to mix, then add the dry ingredients and pulse a few times to blend.
4. With the machine running, very slowly pour in the hot milk mixture. Process for a few seconds, then put everything back into the saucepan.
5. Whisk without stopping over medium heat – making sure to get into the edges of the pan – until the pudding thickens and a couple of bubbles burble up to the surface and pop (about 2 minutes). You want the pudding to thicken, but you don’t want it to boil, so lower the heat if necessary.
6.  Scrape the pudding back into the processor (if there’s a scorched spot, avoid it as you scrape) and pulse a couple of times. Add the chocolate, butter and vanilla and pulse until everything is evenly blended.
7. Pour the pudding into bowls. If you don’t want a skin to form (some people think the skin is the best part), press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of each pudding to create an airtight seal. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours (if you can wait that long).

Source: Dorie Greenspan - Baking from My home to Yours

 

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