Decadent Chocolate Pudding

A few years ago I came across the best pudding I had ever had in my life at a small little restaurant in New Orleans when I was visiting at a conference.  I thought nothing of it at the time, but for months I would compare other dessert puddings to this gastronomic delight.  So, the chemist is me began to experiment.  Time after time I kept failing. In come cases, I came up with some good puddings and, in other cases, some absolutely awful concoctions.

One day I was chatting with my mom and she mentioned she remembered a recipe for a pudding my Grandma made.  A few weeks later she dug it out and told me about it.  Although the recipe wasn't what I was looking for, it gave me the ammunition I needed.  I was making the mistake of using gelatin, corn starch or other "aggressive" thickening agents in almost all my mixtures.  When all that is really needed is creme, milk, eggs and time.  From this, I've been able to devise a recipe that is packed with rich chocolate taste and silky texture.

Rich chocolate pudding with strawberry and chocolate crumble

As a heads up, this is not a low calorie recipe and is very rich.  A little bit goes a long way, but is really enjoyable if you love chocolate. The recipe I have below is for 4-6 portions, but can be easily up or down scaled as desired (all the pictures in the steps are for have portions described as there were only two of us enjoying it in the evening I prepared this). In the portion I show in the picture above, it was almost too much for me to have in one sitting, but for my fiancee, it she said it wasn't hard to do at all.

What food stuff you will  need for the pudding (4-6 servings):
2 eggs
3/4 cup of sugar
2 cups of whipping cream
1/2 cup cocoa (unsweetened)
2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
60 g of butter (not salted, this is a little less than 1/4 cup) - it has to be butter not margarine
1/2 cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate
Optional: splash of milk (this will be added to make thinner if you like less dense pudding)


What "equipment" you will  need for the pudding:
1 large mixing bowl
1 small-medium bowl
1 fork
1 whisk or electric mixer
1 large sauce pan
1 cutting board
1 knife for chopping
1 tablespoon measure
1/2 cup measure

Directions:
1) In a large bowl, combine the egg and sugar and mix.

Egg and sugar ready to mix

Egg and sugar mixed

2) Add in the cream to the egg and sugar mixture and whisk until combined.  You should mix until all the sugar is dissolved into the cream and bubbles form (see picture).

Note: Be sure not to over beat the cream to create peaks; just beat the mixture enough to aerate and mix.

Egg, sugar and cream mixed

3) In a separate bowl, mix the cocoa, flour and pinch of salt fully with a fork until uniform.
Note: The salt will help bring out the chocolate flavour in the final product more than if it's not included.

Cocoa, flour and salt mixture

 4) Slowly add small portions of the cocoa flour mix into the cream mixture and mix to homogenous.  Keep adding in portions of the cocoa mixture until it is all added to the large mixing bowl and fully mixed in.

Cocoa mixture added to the cream mixture

5) Meanwhile, measure out ~1/2 cup of chocolate chips, chunks or chopped up chocolate and a bit less than 1/4 cup of butter to use in a little bit.

6) In a large sauce pan, add in the mixture and turn the heat to approximately medium, stirring the mixture during the heating process.

Starting heating the mixture on medium heat

7) You'll notice as the the mixture begins to heat, the colour of the pudding will darken.  This is expected, so don't worry! Continue stirring. 

8) By the time the pudding has come to a simmer, the colour change should be almost complete.  Once simmering, remove the mixture from the heat and add in the butter and chocolate chips to add more chocolate taste and add smoothness to the final product. 

Adding in the butter and chocolate chips

9) After the butter and chocolate chips have melted and are fully included in the mixture, place the pudding in bowls and put in the fridge for 30-60 min to chill before serving.
Optional: If you feel the pudding is too thick since you left it simmering too long, or the recipe provide is just too thick for your taste, add a small splash of milk and mix into the mixture to reduce the thickness before chilling.

The final product with all components combined and heating finished

10) After ~ 45-60 min the pudding should be fully set and ready to eat! I normally add some fruit to the top and grated chocolate.  Alternatively, you can add some fresh whipping cream or make layers of pudding and whipping cream to lighten up the chocolate flavour and make the pudding "lighter".

Pudding placed in a bowl ready to chill out

Enjoy and until next time, keep on experimenting in the kitchen!

The Canadian Cooking Chemist