I love love lurrrrve this recipe. It is my go to recipe. It's also my fall back. And the best part is that it hardly takes any time to make (chilling it is another matter.) But make. Forget. Assemble. Eat.
I've made this twice over since I've moved. For high-tea last week and then for dessert last night. So you can just about imagine how much I love this pud.
The thing is there's something quite fantastic about making pudding from scratch. You can see how the milky mixture thickens, changes colours and tastes so sublime that you want to lick the entire bowl.
The great thing about this pudding is that it is so versatile that you can play with it as much as you like. Like bananas? Make it into this Chocolate Banana Pudding. Like nutella? stir in a couple of teaspoons of the hazelnut spread into one part of the pudding and layer it. Peanut butter? Coconut? Orange? Really just about anything works with this pud.
But here's what I really think of the pudding:
1. Use good quality chocolate. Like really good. I used Ghiradelli Semi Sweet.
2. If you're using milk chocolate, do add a heaped tablespoon of Cocoa powder
3. If you want to go eggless, just up the cornflour and omit the yolk
4. Be patient. Let it simmer and thicken on low flame. It takes less than 10 minutes to thicken.
5. If you see lumps, strain. I've never had lumps, cause I'm patient.
6. Don't omit the whipped cream, it really adds a dimension to the pud pie
You can make this as a whole pie, but the pie shots are so much more fun to eat, and also good for portion control no?
'Nuf said. Time for the recipe
Chocolate Pudding Pie Shots
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Collection: Pie & Tart
Makes 10 Pie Shots
Or 1 8 –inch pie
Ingredients
For the crust:
8 Oreo biscuits crushed
For the filling:
1 ¼ cup whole milk
80 grams semi sweet chocolate
2 egg yolks
1/3 cup plus two tblsp sugar
1 tblsp cocoa powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 ½ tblsp cornstarch
¾ tsp vanilla extract
For the Topping:
½ cup heavy cream
1 tblsp icing sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
A couple of crushed biscuits to garnish
Directions
1. In a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, warm the milk and chocolate. Whisk them occasionally until the chocolate is melted.
2. In a large bowl, combine the egg yolks and sugar, whisking them until pale yellow. Add cornstarch, salt and vanilla.
3.Slowly pour the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture, whisking them well.
4. Return the mixture to the saucepan, and cook over medium heat until it thickens and begins to bubble slowly, about 7 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat, and stir the mixture until it’s smooth, about 1 minute.
5. Cover it with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface, and refrigerate it for 2 hours.
For the Topping: Using an electric mixer fitted with a whisk (whip) attachment, beat the cream, sugar and vanilla on medium-high until stiff peaks form.
Assembly:
1. Use a spoon to press down the crushed biscuits into shot glasses.
2. Spoon in chocolate pudding into each glass carefully.
3.Spoon the whipped cream onto the pud, being careful not to disturb the chocolate pudding underneath.
4. Decorate with crushed chocolate cookies
5. Refrigerate the pie until ready to serve, but let it sit at room temperature for 20 minutes before serving.
