Dorie Greenspan's Creamy Chocolate Pudding

TWD is here again and chocolate pudding it is! Melissa from It's Melissa's Kitchen chose this week's cooking event from Dorie Greenspan's cookbook "Baking from my home to yours". My grandpa used to love pudding; chocolate and butterscotch being his two favorite flavors. Grandma used to always buy the pudding in those little plastic container cups at the grocery refrigerated section. Don't get me wrong, my Grandma was a fabulous baker but the idea of mixing pudding over the stove didn't excite her imagination. Grandma was famous for her pies, mostly fruit pies. . .I bet a small orchard of different fruit trees had something to do with this. Granny came from the depression era and made sure NOTHING went to waste. 3 different kinds of Apples, several sweet cherry trees, and 1 Bosc pear tree made up the variety of fruit. Her applesauce and apple butter were to die for!

If grandpa tasted Dorie's chocolate pudding, I bet Grandma would be stuck mixing it over the kitchen stove because Grandpa would be making such a fuss about how much he loved it! Chocolate creamy richness in small amounts. The best flavor of any dish comes from the taste of the first two bites. Silky texture, bittersweet richness of a good chocolate, and the visual attraction of adding a dollop of lightly sweetened whipped cream with chocolate curls over all makes this simple sounding dessert feel like a rich treat. For me, enjoyment came more from mixing the ingredients together and smelling the wonderful aroma permeating throughout the house. Nostalgic is the only word I can think of to represent the feeling. I think that is what cooking and baking represents to so many of us. . .memories of aromas and experiences in kitchen's past and/or images of our own ideals for home life and taking care of our most cherished. Sitting down and tasting the end result can be secondary, not that I do not look forward to diving in. . .because I DO! =D

The hardest part for me putting Dorie's chocolate pudding recipe together was having time to take pictures of each step. Several steps required a little hustle. This was fun wasn't it?

The chocolate pudding recipe can be found on page 383 and on It's Melissa's Kitchen blog site.

Another keeper for a family favorite: Thank You Dorie =D!

I used Scharffen Berger Natural Cocoa Powder - Unsweetened along with the cornstarch and salt.

3 Tablespoons of sugar, egg and 2 egg yolks are blended for 1 minute.

After incorporating the dry ingredients with the egg mixture, the hot milk was added, processed, and poured back into a pot to be whisked until thickening starts to occur.

Ghirardelli chocolate, 60%, semi-sweet is melted and waits to be added to the final stage.

Now that the chocolate pudding has thickened, the pudding is poured back into the food processor. Butter, vanilla extract, and melted chocolate are added and a few quick pulses mixes everything together.

The pudding has had saran wrap placed on the surface to prevent a skin from forming while chilling in the refrigerator over night. In the morning, I whipped up a small amount of heavy cream, added 1 T. of fine granulated sugar, and 1/2 t. vanilla extract. Placed a dollop on the top and a few chocolate curls for presentation. The pudding is creamy, rich, and delicious! =D