Warm Mocha Pudding

When I was little, we didn't often have dessert on week nights.  That is, until I discovered that if I made it when I got home from school and didn't make too big a mess out of the kitchen, mom was actually quite alright with dessert during the week.  And thus a new Ruiz family way of living was born.

It started simply with jello.  But even with all the flavors and all the colors of the rainbow, I couldn't leave well enough alone.  Too impatient to wait long enough to make actual different colored layers, I graduated instead to mixing in canned fruit with my jello.  There was pineapple with the blue raspberry and fruit cocktail in the lime green.

But a family cannot live on jello alone.  And soon enough, there was pudding on the horizon.  After one small debacle with the non-quick cooking type, I mastered the jello pudding and pudding nights became a happy mid-week break.  I was no more than 10 and mastering pudding was an accomplishment, with quite yummy returns.

I am now more than 20 and while I still turn to the little 1 x 3 inch boxes for my few and far between technicolor jello needs, I can also make pudding on my own.  I just don't.  But then, Cooking Light comes out with a warm mocha pudding recipe in their special 40 Fast and Easy Meals! spread in the April 2012 issue.  To a girl who always stuck her pudding in the mic for 20 seconds to warm it up and will eat mocha anything, warm mocha pudding?  Fast and Easy?  Yes, please, and now.

And I liked it.  Ben even more.  It was tthhiiss close to getting into the Big Green Cookbook, except for one tiny, little, itty bitty problem.  The texture was wrong.  It was kind of grainy.  It wasn't horrible and didn't affect the taste at all, but it was there.  Being the diligent recipe tester that I am for you guys (ok, lie, I can't help but eat melted, sweet, swoon inducing chocolate), I know exactly where it happen.  Before I stirred in the butter at the end - success.  Afterward - deliciousness with just a hint of grainy.  Something that could be completely my fault?  More than likely.  Something that deserves a second go round just to double check?  Absolutely.

Warm Mocha Pudding
From Cooking Light April 2012

I've made one change.  I used 2% instead of 1%.  The link (as always) is under the recipe title if you want to see the original.  Another reason I was so excited about this recipe is that it made me finally buy a jar of espresso powder.  So heads up, we're going to be seeing a lot more mocha in the very near future.

1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 egg (large)
2 c. 2% milk
1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. instant espresso granules
1/8 tsp. salt
1 oz. bittersweet chocolate
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. unsalted butter

In medium saucepan, whisk together sugar and egg.  Once egg is incorporated, continue to whisk in next 5 ingredients (through salt).  Once combined, put pan over medium high heat stirring consistently, for about 14 minutes or until mixture becomes thick and bubbly.  Remove from heat.  Add chocolate and whisk together until melted and smooth (and swoon-inducing!)  Whisk in vanilla and butter.  Pour into separate serving bowls and cool 5-10 minutes before serving.