Winter Chocolate Puddings

It's time for chocolate!  Pudding, that is.

Back in 2016, I sought to make a chocolate pudding for the Jewish holiday of Passover. Years ago, I had learned to make homemade cooked chocolate pudding in Home Ec class (dating myself!) and it was so much better than a mix.

After some Internet searching and an experiment, I came up with a recipe, which I've since adapted for year round use.

The original recipe used almond milk, coconut sugar (which I didn't have in the house), vanilla extract (which I couldn't use because it contained corn syrup, forbidden during Passover) and cocoa powder. Instead of the cornstarch the recipe called for, I  used Kosher for Passover potato starch.  Outside of Passover, I use cornstarch.

This winter I've made it several times, with variations.  The beauty of this is, it's all mixed and cooked in one saucepan, so cleanup is minimal.

Here is something you don't have to be Jewish to enjoy:

Homemade Non Dairy Chocolate Pudding (Makes 4 servings) (sorry, metric readers; you are on your own)

Ingredients
2 cups almond or cashew Milk (I use almond milk, but there are other non dairy milks available. Sadly, almond growing makes a big environmental impact.
1/2 cup and 1 tablespoon cane sugar (you can also use about 3 tbs of a stevia/sugar blend, if you are watching calories. I am.)
4 tablespoons black or regular cocoa (both should work fine - I use black.)
4 tablespoons potato starch (or 4 tablespoons cornstarch) either will work
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I didn't use for Passover but I use the rest of the time.)

After mixed but before cooking

Method
Place almond milk, sugar, cocoa powder, potato or cornstarch, and vanilla extract in a saucepan over low heat.   Stir together until thick and smooth. 

Take off heat and immediately pour into 4 small serving bowls.  Let cool.  

One other thing I should mention - this creates a skin almost immediately, even as you are pouring. That's something you may want to keep in mind if you don't like skin on top of your pudding.  I do. 

And, of course, you can use dairy milk if you want.

Variation- Eggnog Chocolate Pudding (above picture)

After Christmas, I had leftover eggnog from Purity in Ithaca, New York, a somewhat local ice cream store that makes the world's best (I think) eggnog.  Because I am not lactose intolerant, I decided to substitute 3/4 cup of the almond milk for 3/4 cup eggnog. (If you do this, reduce sugar substantially). I also had a retort of unsweetened chocolate almond milk, which I bought by mistake, so I used that for the remainder of the almond milk (reducing the cocoa I added).  It was delicious.

I could also imagine adding chopped nuts into this pudding.

Enjoy!