Easy Chocolate Pudding

This is another of Erika Bruce's recipes from the latest issue of Cook's Country.  The article actually gives two recipes - one for the basic chocolate pudding, plus two variants for Mocha Pudding and Chocolate-Almond Pudding.  I made the Chocolate Almond Pudding.

This makes, quite frankly, the best chocolate pudding I've had in decades.  The only version I can recall being better was what my mother used to cook, and that has nostalgia behind it.   This recipe makes a pudding with wonderfully smooth texture and absolutely wonderful chocolate flavor, thanks to a mix of Dutch process cocoa (we use Droste, as always) and Hershey's Milk Chocolate Chips with whole milk and a bit of cream. 

The version I made calls for almond extract in place of the vanilla extract used in the default recipe.  Juli found the almond flavor a bit overly-intense, but I really loved it.   I topped it with roasted almond slivers and fresh-whipped cream, courtesy of our Cuisinart Stand Mixer.  Next time I'll use the default recipe for Easy Chocolate Pudding.

I will most likely make up another batch of this pudding next weekend. 

If chocolate pudding with silk-smooth texture and rich chocolate flavor sounds good, get yourself a copy of this issue of Cook's Country and try out this recipe.   You'll be glad you did.