TWD: The BEST Chocolate Pudding!!! YUM!

I took a break from TWD last week because of the long holiday weekend. Carlo and I decided to enjoy a few days with no set plans and no parties to attend. We actually did very littke cooking and baking too.

So we’re back this week with Melissa of It’s Melissa’s Kitchen, and her selection, Chocolate Pudding. The recipe is found on page 383 of Dorie Greenspan’s Baking from My Home to Yours. It put a big smile on my face. To me, there’s nothing better in the world than chocolate in its oh so many forms.

Chocolate pudding has always been a great, simple and satisfying snack and dessert. Growing up, Mom always had Jell-O chocolate pudding boxes, not the instant mix, on hand. Then came, “Handi-Snack” sized cups to throw in the lunch box. Now, we have Dorie’s recipe take brings the pudding to a grown-up level, but it brings back memories of mom cooking up the pudding on the stove.

With Dorie’s recipe, I did go the reduced sugar route. As usual, I halved the sugar and replaced it with Splenda’s Baker’s Blend. For the melted chocolate, I used a 3.5 oz bar of Ghirardelli Intense Dark Espresso Escape 60% Cacao with 1.5 oz of Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips. I also used skim milk, which didn’t take away from the flavor. If anything it made the dark chocolate more subtle to complement the semi-sweet.

I couldn’t help myself while pouring the pudding into the ramekins. I did have a more than a few tastes of it. It was really, really, really, really, umm did i say really, good! After the pudding was set, it was even better. But of course, it would be! It’s has to be the best pudding I’ve had to date.

If you’re new to the Tuesdays with Dorie phenonmenon and our take on the wonderful recipes from Dorie’s book, do check out the members’ results by going through the blogroll located here.