for the love of chocolate pudding...

It is cold.  And we have had 3 weeks of sick and yick at this house.  So we I needed to make an awesome comfort food treat on Saturday with the kids while S had his marathon inventory day.  I was originally thinking brownies or Grandma K's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, but then we watched an episode of America's Test Kitchen on PBS and they made chocolate pudding.  CHOCOLATE PUDDING!  Yes, that was it.  Unfortunately I didn't have any box mixes, or the fancy expresso powder or even heavy cream in the house that ATK's recipe called for.  Then I remembered making pudding with my dad when I was little out of the Betty Crocker cookbook.  I pulled mine out and found the recipe, and then decided to mish-mash the two together based on what ingredients I had in the house for the following deliciousness.  (kids helped measure out everything and G was an awesome stirrer!  Dad, I may be able to attempt your scalloped potatoes in the near future if she keeps it up...=)

Homemade Chocolate Pudding (our version)

1/2 cup white sugar
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
3 large egg yolks
3 cups skim milk
1 stick butter
5 oz chopped dark chocolate  OR  1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla

Whisk sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt together in dutch oven or large sauce pan. Whisk in yolks and 1/2 cup of the milk until fully incorporated, making sure to scrape corners of  the pan. Whisk in rest of the milk until incorporated.  Place pan over medium heat; cook, whisking constantly, until mixture is thickened and bubbling over entire surface, around 5 to 8 minutes.  Cook 30 seconds longer, then remove from heat.  Add butter, chocolate and vanilla, and whisk until melted and fully incorporated.  Pour through fine-mesh strainer into bowl to get out any cornstartch lumps. Press parchment paper against surface of pudding, and place in refrigerator to cool, at least 4 hours. Whisk pudding briefly and serve!

Please, please try this pudding.  It was NOT hard to make (seriously...if I can do you, you can!), but it was hard to wait for it to cool!  And I won't tell at all if you make it again 2 days later because you couldn't stop thinking about it and it was all gone before your hubby even got home Saturday night.  And I really won't tell if you decide you just can't wait for it to cool and pour it into a mug and call it hot chocolate (seriously...the high is -4 today and the windchill is -30, who wants cold pudding on a day like this?!).  I will tell if you put your kids in matching pj's and feed it to them as a bedtime snack though because you will need to grab your camera for the silly crazy giggly fest that just might happen because of it...