Really Good Chocolate Pudding

I don't know why, but the past few weeks, I've had mad cravings for chocolate pudding. Super creamy, rich, deep, dark chocolate pudding. I'm a bit ashamed to admit we normally buy Hershey's chocolate pudding cups because, well, they're easy and good and Costco carries them. But then it occurred to me - you know, I bet I could make my own even better. I have all the ingredients, so why not? I could make a big batch on Sundays and we could have a half a cup (pudding cups are 4oz. and it's always been enough to satisfy me) for dessert every night.

So last week, I Googled "chocolate pudding recipe" and found a lot of recipes that used egg yolks that required tempering. I really didn't want to deal with all that, so I added "-egg yolks" because, you know, you can do that. I came across... Surprise! A recipe on the Hershey's cocoa website. It was only a few ingredients and didn't see, time consuming, so I made it - at 3am. Yeah, that's when I normally get the desire to make something like pudding. Some reviewers had said it was runny while others didn't seem to have an issue with it, so I made it as-is except I used a combination of regular cocoa and dark cocoa powders. Well, sure enough, it was runny even after chilling.

The next day, I decided to try and salvage it by making a slurry of milk and the same amount of cornstarch it had originally called for. I didn't want to dirty a pan, so I nuked it. I figured if it didn't turn out, no big deal. It tasted good otherwise, so next time I'd just double the cornstarch. To my surprise, it thickened up and all was well... Until it was gone the next day.

I've made this pudding three times now and each time, I tweak it just a little.  This incarnation, I think, is my final product and it's damn good for a simple pudding. Deeply chocolatey, rich, creamy. I actually prefer to eat it warm instead of chilled, but you can have it either way. Top it with whipped cream...or not. It's good regardless.  It would also be good used as a filling for donuts or cake or in a trifle. It's infinitely better than nonfat pudding cups!

Really Good Chocolate Pudding
Makes about 2.5 cups

1/8 cup each regular and dark cocoa powders (I used Hershey's special dark)
OR 1/4 cup cocoa powder, any kind
6 tablespoons cornstarch
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 3/4 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the cocoa powders, cornstarch, sugar, and salt until combined. Add whipping cream to make a paste. While whisking, slowly pour in milk until thoroughly combined and any lumps are gone. Cook pudding over medium heat, stirring constantly with a silicone spatula (see note below). Continue cooking until pudding thickens and remove from heat. Add vanilla and butter and stir to combine. Serve warm or chill, placing plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming (unless you like that kind of thing). If you choose not to use plastic wrap, cool pudding to room temp before covering and chilling to prevent condensation from forming.

Note: I'm impatient, so I usually turn my burner up to about 6-7 (of 10) in order to heat the pudding faster. Once it's hot, I lower the heat to 5 and continue cooking. Just make sure to stir constantly, scraping the sides and bottom of the pot to prevent burning or lumps. I've never had issues with lumpy pudding using this method.

A Welcome and My Big Why

Greetings, all!

I've been wondering what to write for my first post for about two weeks now (a good chunk of that was spent being sick as hell with a nasty chest cold) and then it dawned on me - duh, how about a welcome post?  So, here it is...

Welcome!

Ok, cool, now that that's out of the way...

So, maybe you're wondering what this blog is about and why it's here.  To be honest, I'm not even sure.  It started out as an idea for a sounding board.  I often find myself having something to say that turns into epic posts on Facebook.  I thought - hey, why not put those on a blog instead and then link to that blog on Facebook instead?  But over the past couple of weeks since I actually created the blog, I've been thinking more and more about what all I have to say.  Those epic posts don't happen *that* often and so while I'll sometimes post them here, I also want to post about other things I'm passionate about.

This past January, I joined a group called Nerd Fitness.  Part of that whole New Year's attempt at eating better and exercising more.  I was really into reading the posts and I even ate better for awhile, but it was difficult because my husband wasn't in it with me.  He doesn't enjoy exercising and while he'll eat whatever I make, it's just not the same as it would be if he had made the same investment in his health.  I signed him up for Nerd Fitness 2-3 weeks ago because honestly, it was in the heat of the moment talking about health and fitness and, oh yeah, Pokemon Go and how great it is for helping people get out of the house and get some exercise.  So it took him awhile to start reading the material, but he finally did and has come up with his "Big Why" - he basically doesn't want to deal with taking diabetes medication and testing his blood sugar, and because his family is prone to diabetes (his entire immediate family has it even though they aren't particularly overweight), he figured he'd better do what he could now to help prevent it.

Around the time he joined, I respawned (deleted all my accumulated XP and started the program over so I could do it with him) and as I'm going through the modules, I come to MY Big Why.  I realize that MY Big Why is actually pretty superficial, but you know what?  Who the fuck cares?  It's my big why and whatever works to motivate me is good enough.  MY Big Why is... clothes.  Yep, clothes.  And cosplay.

I'm not gonna sugarcoat it - I'm fat.  There's no way around it.  In the past year, I've become more comfortable with saying it where it once would have made me cringe, but that's another story for another day.  Fact is, nothing fits me - nothing cute anyway.  I know, there are a lot of plus size clothing manufacturers out there now.  But even if something technically fits me, I just don't feel comfortable in anything because of my body.  I currently wear anywhere from a size 28-34, depending on the company.  At Torrid, I'm a size 5.  I'd probably buy a size 6 because I don't like my clothes to be close fitting. But there are so many clothing stores that only go up to a size 24... even a 28, that won't fit.  And there are SO many cute clothes out there!  I think back to high school and when I was a size 18 back when all we had was Avenue and Lane Bryant (before either one really had trendy clothes) and would give anything to be that size again.  I think about what I could wear if I were a size 18 and the fact that I could sew my own clothes without having to upsize them.  Yeah... when I was younger, I loved fashion and wanted to be a fashion designer, but more on that another time.  So anyway, that's my Big Why.  Clothes and, to a lesser extent, cosplay.  I don't care about being a size 4 or even a size 10.  I'd be perfectly fine with my high-school size and weight (180lbs by the way) because you know what?  Despite what my mother always told me - I was friggin hot back then.

So, there it is - a little more than a welcome post, but I've been thinking a lot about this stuff lately.  Please subscribe! I'll be posting on everything from fitness, nutrition, fashion, sewing, books, and who knows what else.