Chocolate Pudding

Everyone loves chocolate because chocolate makes people happy. There is, however, a healthconcern about eating too much sugar. If you use chocolates with very high sugar content, your fear is warranted. However, if you are willing to prepare something like chocolate pudding at home using simple cooking techniques and good quality cocoa powder or chocolate, you don’t have to be afraid. You will know exactly how much sugar is going into your chocolate pudding, won’t you?

Health Benefits

Regular chocolate eaters receive a host of benefits for their hearts, including lower blood pressure, lower “bad” LDL cholesterol and a lower risk of heart disease. One of the reasons dark chocolate is especially heart-healthy is its inflammation-fighting properties which may reduce cardiovascular risk.

Ingredients

Sugar: 2/3 cups

unsweetened cocoa powder: 1/4 cups

cornstarch: 3 tbsp

salt: 1/4 tsp

milk: 21/4 cups

Butter: 2 tbsp

pure vanilla extract: 1 tsp

How To Make Chocolate Pudding

1. Place the sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch, and salt in a heavy-duty saucepan.
2. Whisk the ingredients together. Make sure that there are no clumps in the mixture.
3. Pour the milk into the pan while whisking, slowly.
4. Place the pan over low heat and whisk the mixture slowly.
5. Keep stirring for 10 minutes. The pudding will start to thicken.
6. Whisk for another minute. When the mix comes to a boil, remove from the heat.
7. Add the butter and vanilla, whisking to combine it into the pudding.
8. Pour the pudding into 4 dessert cups. (Or you can pour into a graham cracker crust or a pie crust.)
9. Press plastic wrap onto the pudding surface.
10. Refrigerate for about 2 hours until cooled.
11. Top with whipping cream if desired and serve.

Tip: Carry the pudding to the office or pack in your kid’s Vaya Tyffyn lunch boxes to show off and share. You can be assured that it will still be fresh.

Trivia

• General Foods (Jell-O) introduced chocolate pudding mix in 1934 as "Walter Baker's Dessert". It was renamed "Pickle's Pudding" in 1936. Modern chocolate puddings are usually made with milk and sugar, flavored with chocolate and vanilla, and thickened with a starch such as flour or cornstarch.
• The word pudding is believed to come from the French Boudin, originally from the Latin botellus, meaning "small sausage", referring to encased meats used in medieval European puddings.