Nothing Beats a Good Chocolate Pudding for Dessert

INTRODUCTION

We're talking pure, all-encompassing bliss. When you eat this cooled, it is like chocolate satin cream and almost shocking in its pleasurable intensity. But I love it straight out of the pan, too, when it is like the best hot chocolate you've ever had, in spoonable form.

INGREDIENTS

Serves: 8

• 2 cup whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup superfine sugar
• 2 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 4 tablespoons boiling water (from recently boiled kettle)
• 4 large egg yolks
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (finely chopped)

METHOD

1. Put the kettle on, and warm the milk and cream together in a saucepan or in a bowl in the microwave.
2. Put the sugar and cornstarch into another saucepan and sieve in the unsweetened cocoa. Add the 2 tablespoons of boiling water and whisk to a paste.
3. Whisk in the egg yolks, one at a time, followed by the warmed milk and cream, then the vanilla extract.
4. Scrape down the sides of the pan and put it on a lowish heat, cooking and whisking for about 3-4 minutes until the mixture thickens to a mayonnaise-like consistency.
5. Take off the heat and whisk in the finely chopped chocolate, before pouring into 4 small cups or glasses, each with a capacity of about 150ml / two-thirds of a cup.
6. Cover the tops of the cups or glasses with clingfilm, letting the clingfilm rest on the chocolate surface, to stop a skin forming, and refrigerate once they are cooler. Make sure they are not still fridge-cold when you serve them. You can add a blob of cream on top if you like.

Recipe Courtesy of Nigella Lawson,

from the book Nigella Express

Click on Cover to Purchase