If you’ve never tried homemade chocolate pudding, then you’ve missed out, but it’s not too late. If you HAVE tried it, you already know what a treat it is, unless you didn’t like it. In which case, I maintain that you didn’t try this recipe. … So to summarize, if you’ve never tried it, tried it~but didn’t like it, or tried it~and loved it, this recipe is for you. That’s all I have to say.
Homemade Chocolate Pudding
Heat the milk until hot to the touch (3-4 minutes in the microwave).
Combine the sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt in a 6 quart pot.
If you don’t know how to separate eggs, here’s a quick tutorial.
Gently crack your egg, and slowly open it over a bowl. Be careful to let the white fall into the bowl while using the shell to keep the yolk from going with it, and watch that no pieces of shell fall in. Dump the yolk back and forth between the halves of shell, allowing more of the white to go into the bowl. Then put the yolk in a separate bowl.
Put the yolks in a 2 cup measure or bowl, and whisk them with a fork.
Pour 3/4 of the hot milk (about 3 cups) into the pot with the sugar and cocoa, then whisk until combined. Set aside for a minute.
Rapidly whisking the eggs with a fork, slowly drizzle approximately half of the remaining cup of hot milk into them. You need to be very careful, so you don’t end up with scrambled eggs in milk. (Since this was a two-handed process, I couldn’t get a photo.) Heat the last half cup of milk in the microwave on high heat, for another 30-45 seconds, and repeat the drizzle/stir procedure with the egg yolks.
Now, just to be extra sure that you don’t have any scrambled egg lumps in the pudding, pour the milk/egg mixture through a strainer into another cup.
Whisking constantly, bring the chocolate mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Then remove it from the heat.
Whisking rapidly, drizzle the egg/milk mixture into the pudding. Continuing to whisk constantly, return the pudding to the heat and bring back to a boil.
Remove the pudding from the heat for good, and add the butter and vanilla. Don’t stir until the butter has melted. The pudding will be starting to set, and you don’t want to over-stir. Simply fold in with a spatula to completely incorporate the butter and vanilla.
Transfer the hot pudding to a clean bowl, and immediately cover with plastic, allowing the plastic to touch the pudding. this prevents the pudding from forming a skin.
… or put it into individual serving dishes.
They also need to be covered and refrigerated.
When you’re ready to serve, top with whipped cream …
… and garnish with chocolate shavings.
- 2 cups sugar
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa (Dutch, if possible)
- 5 tablespoons cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 cups hot milk
- 4 egg yolks
- ¾ cup butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- Heat 4 cups of milk in the microwave on high power for 3 or 4 minutes.
- Combine the sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt in a six quart pot.
- Whisk the egg yolks in a 2 cup measure or bowl.
- Pour ¾ of the hot milk into the sugar/cocoa mixture, and whisk.
- Very slowly, pour half the remaining cup of milk into the egg yolk, whisking briskly the entire time. If you’re not careful, you’ll end up with scrambled egg in your milk.
- Heat the last half cup of milk for another 40 seconds.
- Now repeat the procedure of pouring the rest of the milk into the yolks.
- Now pour the milk/egg mixture through a strainer, just in case you got a few scrambles.
- Over medium-high heat, bring the cocoa mixture to a boil, stirring constantly.
- Remove from heat, and slowly pour the strained egg mixture into the chocolate pudding, stirring briskly.
- Return to heat, and bring back to a boil.
- Add the butter and vanilla, and let sit until it melts. Then stir it just to combine. It wants to set up, and too much stirring will prevent that.
- Pour the pudding into a large, clean bowl, or individual serving dishes, and place plastic right on it.
- Refrigerate several hours, until completely cool and set up.
- This is very rich and chocolaty. If you don't like strong chocolate flavor, reduce the cocoa to 2/3 cup.
