Attention Chocolate Lovers: Dark Chocolate Pudding

Ask any of my friends....I'm an addict. I don't remember a day without at least one taste of chocolate. And for me, the darker, the better. Everything in moderation, right? Actually, this one isn't too bad for you. I printed this recipe off of the Weight Watchers site about 7 years ago. I was a whopping size 4 and looking for recipes to feed my chocolate habit while still allowing me to fit into my wedding dress. As you can see, the pudding worked just fine for me (um, and the 5 miles a day I was jogging back then).


So go ahead and indulge. Here's whatcha need...

Skim milk, cocoa, sugar, an egg yolk, salt, cornstarch, and vanilla.


Begin by measuring your dry ingredients. I like to measure the cocoa over a sheet of waxed paper. There's that tiny lil' hole in the top of the cocoa can and it's impossible to get all of the cocoa back into the can without making a mess when you level it off. So I level it onto the waxed paper and then I turn the paper into a funnel and easily dump the excess cocoa back into the container.


Now combine the cocoa, sugar, cornstarch and salt in a large, nonstick saucepan.


Mix em' up.


And pour in the milk...slowly. You want to really whisk it in so your pudding isn't lumpy.



Bring the mixture to a boil, over medium low heat, stirring constantly for 2 minutes.


Now you need an egg yolk...



slightly beaten. If you're cooking with kids, this is a fun step to assign them. That's my daughter, beating the egg yolk.


Before adding the egg yolk, you've got to "temper" it.

Temper: To gently heat a food, often before adding it to a hotter substance. One example is adding a teaspoon or so of hot sauce to beaten eggs. The mixture is blended and then added to the sauce. This keeps the eggs from curdling.

So add a tablespoon of the cocoa mixture to the egg yolk. Then pour the egg yolk into the pudding and cook and stir for another 2 minutes over medium low heat.


Now remove the saucepan from the burner and stir in your vanilla. Mmmm. Smells so good!


And because I'm not fond of that "skin" that forms atop cooked pudding whilst it's cooling, I put plastic wrap or waxed paper right on the surface of the pudding.


And that's it. Serve it up and enjoy! I should warn, this is really "chocolatey". Kind of bittersweet. So, if that's not your thing...you might layer it with whipped cream or if you're being good...fat free whipped topping.


Dark Chocolate Pudding

2 1/4 cups fat free milk
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup sugar
2 T. cornstarch
1/4 t. salt
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. In a large, nonstick saucepan, bring the milk, cocoa, sugar, cornstarch, and salt to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring constantly for 2 minutes.

2. In a bowl, lightly beat egg yolk.

3. Whisk in 1 T. of the cocoa mixture; whisk the egg yolk mixture back into the cocoa mixture, whisking constantly.

4. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, 2 minutes. Do not let mixture boil. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Now, I don't have the official nutritional info. Not the calories, carbs, fat grams, etc. But I did scrawl across the bottom of the printout: Makes 4 servings, 3 WW points each.