Mom's Chocolate Pudding

In my forced departure from chewable-food, I dusted-off some old recipes that I haven’t made in years and asked friends and family for their own recipes that don’t require heavy use of your jaws. Needless to say it, a large number of pudding recipes showed up in my inbox.
It’s funny that when somebody is in no condition to flex those cheek muscles to smile, let alone to chew food, pudding is the first thing that comes to mind.
Which hardly ever happens, pudding is not that popular. Seriously, when was the last time you had pudding? Or thought about pudding?

But pudding and I are not strangers. Chocolate avocado, vanilla berry, coconut chia, blueberry avocado, pina colada, vanilla and honey, caramel chocolate, dairy-free, chocolate pistachio, coconut lemon, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
I love me a good pudding. To me it spells H-O-M-E.

In fact one of my favorite is my Mom’s Chocolate Pudding. Which, truth to be told, is not her recipe at all. It’s John Scharffenberger recipe, actually John Scharffenberger’s mom.
Anyways, I still remember the tupperware containers that mom used only for her chocolate pudding. Each held a single serving and had its own lid so that they could be easily stacked in the fridge.
It has a silky smooth texture, but it’s rich and quite dense.
What I like really like about this chocolate pudding is that it’s made with only 6 ingredients. No heavy cream, no eggs, basically just chocolate, milk, sugar, and cornstarch.
It can also easily be made vegan by using plant based milk instead of dairy milk and can be as easily paleofied by using coconut sugar and arrowroot powder instead of white sugar and cornstarch (which is what I did!)
Compared to the original recipe I reduced the amount of sugar and used dark chocolate instead of semisweet. Perfect for the grown-ups.

I believe that everyone needs a perfect chocolate pudding recipe in their repertoire and for me, this is the one. Simple but luscious.
It will take a lot of willpower not to eat the pudding warm and let it chill until it has set. But then. Then you can have it and dig in this pure deliciousness. Silky almost velvety. Blooming with chocolate flavor and an absolute delight to eat.

Mom’s Chocolate Pudding                                                                                                                    Print this recipe!
Adapted from Scharffenberger

Ingredients
Serves 6

¼ cup cornstarch (or arrowroot powder)
⅓ cup sugar (I used coconut sugar)
⅛ teaspoon salt
3 cups milk of your choice (I used almond milk)
6 oz dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Combine cornstarch, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. Slowly whisk in the milk so that cornstarch is incorporated and no lumps are visible.
Place saucepan over low heat, stirring every now and then, scraping the bottom and sides. I like to use a whisk to break lumps as they begin to form.
After about 10 to 15 minutes, before the mixture starts to simmer, it should begin to thicken (enough that it will coat the back of a spoon). At this point add the chocolate and continue stirring for another 5 minutes, until the chocolate is fully incorporated and mixture is quite thick.
Remove saucepan from the heat and stir in vanilla extract.
Divide mixture among individual cups and chill in the refrigerator until it’s cool and set, about 2 to 3 hours.
Keep in the fridge up to 3 days.

Nutrition facts

One serving yields 215 calories, 12 grams of fat, 29 grams of carbs, and 3 grams of protein.