Divine Chocolate Pudding

I haven't been posting for a while, because, frankly, I haven't been cooking. I had my baby last week and ended up with a C-section so I was too tired before and after others have been cooking for me. That said, on Monday it was my turn to choose a treat for our Family Night and I wanted Chocolate Pudding. My mom found this recipe for pudding in the Lion House Desserts cookbook that sounded delicious! Oddly enough it didn't use eggs and we thought we should try it. The cookbook is a collection of recipes used at The Lion House, a restaurant in downtown Salt Lake. Everything I have tried in it has been divine and this proved to be no exception. The original recipe was for vanilla pudding, but mom changed it to chocolate. She added the maximum amount of cocoa & sugar listed and it was really rich. If you like less chocolatey flavor add the smaller amount of cocoa & sugar


Divine Chocolate Pudding
2 C milk (2 % is best or evap +skim, or whole fat coconut milk)
1/3 T butter
1/3-1/2 C granulated sugar
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1/4-1/3 C cocoa
1 tsp vanilla

1. Heat milk and butter in a heavy pan until very hot. Stir often so it doesn't burn
2. Meanwhile, mix sugar, cornstarch, salt, and cocoa in a bowl and add 1/2 C of the hot milk. Stir the mixture until the sugar is dissolved. Slowly add the mixture back into the remaining milk, stirring constantly.
3. Continue stirring until the pudding thickens and is smooth, it will take about 3 minute. Cover and cook 5 more minutes.
4. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.
5. Pour into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap, making sure the wrap is touching the entire top of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming.
6. Refrigerate for 3 hours before serving.
Makes 4 C of pudding or fills 1 9" pie.