Heather says:
Did you know that pudding doesn’t have to come from a box? No, I’m serious. On the difficulty scale I’d put it slightly above total n00b. That’s novice for those of you who have managed to retain your brains and don’t surf the web all day. I’m teasing, don’t get touchy.Â
Ingredients:
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- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 TBSP corn starch
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 2/3 cup milk
- 4 egg yolks, beaten (We’ll get into this, don’t worry)
- 1 TBSP butter
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
To separate your yolk from the white. Carefully crack your egg in half over a bowl. Keep the yolk in one half and let the white drizzle into the bowl.
Gently pour the yolk into the other half to finish removing the egg white. Then tip the yolk into another container.Â
Some people advise using a separator, but it’s one of those tools that is nice, but certainly not a necessity. If you have a separator, simply crack your egg and gently pour the white and yolk into the center, the white will run off and the yolk will be caught nicely in the middle. Some cool kids catch the yolk in their loosely cupped fingers, which is absolutely fine if you are good about washing your hands. If you are saving your egg whites for a meringue, always seperate over a third container just in case the yolk breaks. Even a smidge of yolk will drastically affect the volume of beaten egg whites.
Give your 4 egg yolks a quick stir and set aside.
In a heavy saucepan, gently add and whisk together the sugar, corn starch, and cocoa powder. Turn the heat to medium and add the milk.
Stir frequently and cook until the mixture has thickened and is bubbly / frothy. Then keep up the same thing for another two minutes. (Exciting, eh?)
Take your pan off the burner and place it somewhere safe, we’re not done yet. Here is the important part, so pay attention. Ladle about one cup of your chocolatey milk mixture SLOWLY into your egg yolks while giving them a good stir. This is a crucial step, if you skip it, you’ll have chocolate scrambled eggs and if that sounds appetizing to you, I’m not sure we can be friends.Â
Once you’ve added your cup of milk to the eggs, dump that mixture into your saucepan, give it a good stir, and return to medium heat until you reach a gentle boil. Boil for two minutes, remove from heat, add your vanilla and butter, then pour into a bowl. Cover the surface with plastic wrap and allow to set.
You can serve this warm or cold. Â If you’re a fan of cold pudding chill it for four hours.
Enjoy.
Looks lovely, but…I never make things that call for only part of an egg. What the heck am I going to do with the other half?
So, in this recipe, can you use the whole egg–or do you have another recipe that calls for 4 (no more, no less!!!!) egg whites?
Mmmmm, chocolate pudding, love it. But I don’t add the eggs at all and it still tastes great, it makes it cheaper too.
Homemade pudding is delicious. Thanks for reminding me…I’m gonna make up My recipe soon!
Looks so yummy. I have to admit, I’ve never ventured past the box with puddings. Not that I make it much, just usually add them to my cake batters. This looks worth the effort though. I’ll try tonight and post my review 🙂 LOL
BTW, do you have a “to die for” hot coco recipe? The best one I’ve had called for a dry chocolate pudding pack…but I’d rather serve homemade to the kids.
Karen, egg whites can be frozen or added to scrambled eggs, omelets in addition to or instead of whole eggs.
I am SO excited to see this. Don’t know why I never thought to search for a pudding recipe before, but my kiddos can’t have any dyes, and ALL boxed puddings have dyes in them. Going to go buy me some cocoa right now and fix a batch before they get home from school as a surprise.
Mmmm…I like to make chocolate pudding pies with meringue on the top (uses up those egg whites). To make a pudding recipe into a pie recipe, just add more cornstarch or tapioca flour (I’m guessing one to two more teaspoons for this recipe, I haven’t tested it yet) and add a couple of squares of baking chocolate (you may need to increase the sugar and vanilla slightly to balance – taste test) or a handful or so of high-cocoa content baking chips (cheap chips have too much oil and will make a mess) to your melty milk mixture (how was that for alliteration?). ;o)
Remember to stir, stir, stir, constantly to prevent scorching – and try to do so without adding air to the liquid to keep the texture smoothest. Also, I have pans with very heavy bottoms that hold heat and can scorch after having been removed from heat, so if you have pans like mine, give your heated mix a stir every now and again even while “resting.”
BTW, if you have yet to discover Dutch process cocoa (much richer, almost nutty tasting), this winter might be a great time to break your Hershey’s-in-a-tin habit.
Hey, what kind of milk should you use? Skim, 2%, Whole?
Also, can you use flour or something instead of corn starch?
Just curious. 🙂
@JRae – I’ve had good luck substituting tapioca flour and arrowroot powder for cornstarch. Arrowroot is almost an exact replacement in gravies. Tapioca flour is a better binder so it does better in baked goods. Be careful to add tapioca flour slowly, it can get really sticky really fast if you add too much and/or don’t stir enough.
Beat the egg whites and add sugar and a little vanilla to make a wonderful topping for the pudding. That’s what my mom did when we were kids. It is really good.
Karen, egg whites can be frozen or added to scrambled eggs, omelets in addition to or instead of whole eggs.