Yield: 4 individual servings
Recipe: 11/200
“Back to Baking”, pp. 316
For New Year’s Eve I was receiving my best friends for dinner. For this special occasion marking the end of an eventful year, I was looking for a special dessert that would be liked and appreciated by my friends. Since I knew that the dinner itself would be quite filling, I was looking for a light dessert – not too rich nor too heavy. After flipping through the pages a couple of times, I came across a lifesaver recipe that is a traditional dessert loved my most: pudding! This creamy mocha pudding was simple to make, light and very tasty. In addition, it has the benefit of being egg-free, gluten-free and it is low-fat and low in sugar! The coffee taste was a bit too present for a non-coffee drinker like myself, but the pudding was delicious nonetheless (I think the coffee granules that I used also had a strong taste by themselves). I personally doubled the recipe to have larger portions and garnished it with blueberries. This dessert was a nice ending to a wonderful meal amongst friends!
Ingredients:
- 2 cups 1 % milk
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
- 1 tablespoon instant coffee powder
- ¼ cup brewed coffee, at room temperature
- 3 ½ tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Cocoa powder, for garnish (optional)
Directions:
- In a small saucepot over medium heat, bring the milk, sugar, chopped chocolate and coffee powder to a simmer, whisking occasionally until the chocolate has melted and the coffee powder has dissolved into the milk.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the cool coffee, the cornstarch and vanilla extract.
- Gradually whisk the cornstarch mixture into the hot milk. Whisk this over medium heat until it returns to a simmer and thickens, about 4-6 minutes.
- Pour the pudding into 4 small serving dishes and place plastic wrap over each dish, making sure that it touches the pudding directly. This is to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate the pudding until chilled, at least 3 hours. To serve, remove the plastic wrap and garnish, if desired, with cocoa powder or small fruits.
Notes from Anna:
- Adding coffee to chocolate is an efficient way to provide a richer taste to the chocolate without using too much sugar or fat.
Valerie
Valerie 