ALMOST-INSTANT CHOCOLATE PUDDING
Fran Costigan
Queen of Vegan Desserts
In the same time it takes to make boxed chocolate pudding, you can make real chocolate that’s thick and creamy, very chocolatey, refined-sugar-free, cholesterol-free, allergen safe, and pareve too. Plus, it just tastes better than the box.
Note: Using cornstarch is necessary to get the right texture for this pudding. Using arrowroot, would result in pudding with a soft and unpleasant texture.
Full recipe makes about 2 1⁄3 cups
Ingredients
- 1 ⁄2 cup organic granulated sugar
- 1 ⁄4 cup organic cornstarch (do not use arrowroot, see note above)
- 1 ⁄4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 ⁄4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 15 ounces (11 ⁄2 cups plus 6 tablespoons) plant milk
- 2 ounces chocolate (59 to 62%), chopped into small pieces or use chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions
Sift the sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder, and salt through a wire mesh strainer into a medium saucepan. Stir in the milk, until no trace of the dry ingredients is visible.
Cook over medium-high heat, whisking frequently until the mixture begins to thicken and is close to a boil. Adjust the heat as needed to get a full boil, but don’t let it be so high that the bottom scorches. As soon as the pudding starts to boil, it will thicken to pudding consistency. Immediately lower the heat and boil gently for another minute, stirring frequently with a silicone spatula.
Remove the saucepan from the heat. Add the chocolate into the hot pudding and stir with the silicone spatula until the chocolate is melted. Now add the vanilla.
Spoon the pudding into serving dishes. It is ready to eat as soon as it is warm, not hot, but it can be refrigerated for up to 2 days. Skin or no skin on your pudding? To avoid the skin that forms on the pudding as it cools, cover the pudding directly with parchment or plastic wrap. A certain neighbor licks the paper. I do too.
Note: It freezes too, tastes like Fudgesicle!
Fran Costigan, culinary instructor, cookbook author, pastry chef, consultant, and the director of Vegan Pastry at Rouxbe Culinary School, is internationally renowned as the authority on vegan desserts. Professionally trained, Fran was a chef in both traditional and vegan pastry kitchens before moving into teaching over 25 years ago. Her unapologetically luscious confections lack nothing — except dairy, eggs, white sugar, and cholesterol. Fran’s vegan desserts are appropriate for everyone who loves dessert, whether or not dietary restrictions are an issue.
This recipe is reprinted with permission from Vegan Chocolate: Unapologetically Luscious and Decadent Dairy-Free Desserts, by Fran Costigan (Running Press)