I’m a chocoholic, there’s
no denying it. Sometimes you just
want old fashioned chocolate pudding made fresh not from a box but from your
pantry. The Beekman Boys (Brent
Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell of Fabulous Beekman Boys fame) have a simple,
delicious and easy recipe for chocolate pudding in their recently released
Heirloom Cookbook. The cookbook is
filled with family recipes broken down by season making it easy to cook
according to what’s plentiful for that season. This recipe can be made on the spur of the moment when
nothing but something decadent and chocolately will do. The best part – it can be made with
ingredients that are found in any pantry.
There are a few steps and a technique called “tempering”,
which simply means pouring hot liquid into cold liquid so that it becomes the
same temperature. In this case
it’s adding some of the hot pudding mixture into room temperature egg yolks so
that the eggs don’t cook and scramble in the pudding. Once the eggs are tempered then they are added back into the
pudding in the saucepan. This step
will ensure that you’re pudding is smooth and rich.
When I made this pudding I found that it’s better to cook
the ingredients after the second step long enough to completely melt the sugar,
otherwise the pudding will be gritty and not smooth. I didn’t find it necessary to substitute any ingredients
like I sometimes do when I find a new recipe. Although I did use dark brown
sugar (because that’s what my husband brought home from the store) and I didn’t
have any measuring spoons clean so I more or less eye balled it with a kitchen
spoon. For the semi-sweet
chocolate the recipe calls for I used about ½ bag of chocolate chips.
If you want to make Rich Double Chocolate Pudding this is
what you’ll need:
2 ¼ cups milk
½ cup light brown sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
3 large egg yolks
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
In a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine 2 cups of milk,
¼ cup of the brown sugar, and the salt and bring it to a boil over medium heat.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder,
cornstarch, and the remaining ¼ cup brown sugar. Gradually whisk in the remaining ¼ cup of milk until smooth.
Slowly whisk about half of the hot milk mixture into the
cornstarch mixture, and then whisk it back into the saucepan. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil
over medium heat and boil until thick, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Gradually whisk in about 1 cup of the
hot pudding, and then return the yolk mixture to the saucepan. Return to the heat and cook, whisking
constantly, until the pudding begins to sputter, about 2 minutes.
Place the chopped chocolate in a bowl. Scrape the hot pudding over the chopped
chocolate. Cover and let stand for
5 minutes, then stir to combine and melt the chocolate. Stir in the vanilla and refrigerate
until serving time.
The Heirloom Cookbook is filled with over 100 recipes and is
available at bookstores nationwide.
If you’re ever in Upstate NY and would like a chance to meet the Beekman
Boys in person they have a store in Sharon Springs NY called the Beekman 1802
Mercantile where they sell not only their own goat’s milk soaps, lotions and
cajeta (carmel sauce) but also other items that are handmade in and around
Sharon Springs. Can’t make it Sharon Springs? Then check out their website www.beekman1802.com where you’ll find recipes, shop for their soaps, cheeses and
other products and learn more about their life on their farm.
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