Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate Pudding

Another late post for Tuesdays with Dorie. Sigh.

This week's recipe was Chocolate Pudding, chosen by Melissa of It's Melissa's Kitchen. You can find the recipe on her blog, on page 383 of "Baking: From My Home to Yours," by Dorie Greenspan, or on Dorie's blog.


I was planning to make this on Tuesday night (last minute, I know), but we had such a wonderful dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, "La Mestiza" in Madison, Wisconsin, that I was too full to even want to think about cooking!

So, Wednesday night I set out to make pudding. The food processor was already dirty from making hummus for dinner, so I used our hand blender and a stainless-steel Ikea container (both wonderful second-hand store purchases from my sweet husband). I made half the recipe, using Green and Black cocoa powder and Valrhona Guanaja 70% chocolate. Yeah, I admit it, we're chocolate lovers.


I had a moment of panic when my custard thickened up very quickly and got a bit lumpy. I hadn't turned the heat down enough. Duh. But a good beating with the hand blender took care of those little lumps! Yay! (I did get a lot of bubbles, but they mostly popped after a brief rest and a bit of a stir-down.)

While I was rummaging in the china cabinet for our ramekins, I spotted the antique hand-painted German hot chocolate set we inherited from Jim's Great-Aunt Vi. Hey, what great containers for chocolate pudding! Half a recipe was enough for 4 containers and a little bit left over.

After chilling for 2 hours (yes, the book says 4, but we couldn't wait any longer), we had them with whipped cream and black raspberries. Wonderful! Although my husband did say, "It could be more chocolate-y." What can I say, he's a chocolate "extremist!"


A great way to celebrate the release of "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" by Joss Whedon. What? You haven't heard of it? Guess you're not a fan of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Angel," and "Firefly." But if you are, head on over and take a look. Or read what the LA Times has to say.

16 comments:

Dolores said...

What a wonderfully luxurious tribute to Great Aunt Vi. I bet it was lovely with black raspberries.

CB said...

Love the teacup pudding picture! My MIL collects teacups and teaspoons. I'll have to send her your picture to drool over. Great job!
Clara @ iheartfood4thought

Shreya said...

mouth watering..

Carla said...

The cups you used to serve are so beautiful! Great idea serving with black raspberries on top. Mine didn't need the full 4 hours to set either. The sooner, the better! :)

Sherry Trifle - Lovely Cats said...

Yes, I think you are right about turning the heat up - mine was on very low. Your presentation is pretty, pretty, pretty and I want that cup!

ostwestwind said...

What a beautiful tea cup! I am fond of roses at the moment!

Great presentation!

Ulrike from Küchenlatein

Nickki said...

That looks beautiful. I'm also a die-hard chocoholic and I'm definitely with the school of thought that you can never have enough chocolate ;)

Jenny said...

Pretty cups, a great way to serve the pudding.

Anonymous said...

The German hot chocolate set is very beautiful. It must have felt really luxurious spooning your pudding from those cups. Thanks for sharing...very lovely.

Anonymous said...

Your pudding looks lovely in that china cup. And we were loving Dr. Horrible here too -- at least the first two episodes.

Peabody said...

I love the tea cup!

Judy said...

Thanks for leaving a comment on my blog. I love the antique hot chocolate cup! It is beautiful.

Anonymous said...

It's good to know the hand-blender can rescue lumps. I have tossed out a lot of over-cooked creme anglaise for ice cream - next time I'll remember to just blend it. Love the tea cups!

Jules Someone said...

Beautiful pudding and gorgeous dishes!

I'm not normally a Joss W. fan (groupie?), but I loved Dr. Horrible. Loved it.

Anonymous said...

Yum - looks delicious, esp. with that whipped cream! i don't know how that pudding could have been even more chocolatey though! :)

Anonymous said...

Pudding is such a comforting food. Yours has the right look of creaminess!

I love Joss Whedon, by the way. Buffy, Angel, Firefly (why on earth did that cancel that show? It was brilliant!) are all shows I have on DVD. Dr. Horrible is wonderful. I hope he comes up with a new series soon!