How to Make Homemade Chocolate Pudding: Grandma's Recipe

As a little girl, I loved to eat a meal at my maternal grandmother's house. She always made food that we liked, and when she invited us for lunch, we could be sure she would be serving one of her trademark dishes: homemade chocolate pudding. She even served it at Christmas dinner!

My grandma's chocolate pudding was smooth and creamy, with no lumps whatsoever. It was a beautiful rich brown color, topped with real whipped cream. If she wanted it to look extra fancy, she sprinkled a few chocolate chips across the surface of the whipped cream topping. We ate the pudding out of the traditional little clear glass dessert dishes with great delight.

When I grew up and got married, I wanted to make chocolate pudding just like my grandma's, so I asked her for the recipe. And here it is!

Ingredients:

6 cups milk, divided (4 cups + 2 cups)

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

6 tablespoons cornstarch

3 tablespoons flour

6 tablespoons cocoa

1 teaspoons salt

3 teaspoons vanilla

whipped cream and chocolate chips (optional)

Here's how:

Over medium heat, heat four cups of milk with the sugar to almost boiling, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, combine two cups milk, eggs, cornstarch, flour, cocoa, and salt in a blender and blend until smooth. When the milk and sugar has almost reached the boiling point, add the blended mixture. Stir constantly until thickened. (It may help to turn the heat down a little to avoid scorching the pudding.) When the pudding has thickened to the desired consistency, stir in the vanilla and immediately remove from heat.

Pour the pudding into a bowl or glass pitcher and set in a sink of cold water to cool. Stir the pudding occasionally to keep it from getting a "skin" on top. When the pudding has reached room temperature, it should be refrigerated. When chilled, garnish with whipped cream and chocolate chips to serve. This recipe makes 8-10 servings. Enjoy!

Tips for making and serving this chocolate pudding recipe:

• If you don't want to make such a big batch, this recipe can easily be divided in thirds to make enough pudding for 2-4 servings.
• Using a whisk to stir the mixture while cooking might be helpful for getting the smoothest lump-free pudding.
• This pudding tastes great while still warm, if you don't have the patience to wait for it to cool before you do a taste test.
• This easy chocolate pudding far outshines the instant stuff that comes in a box from the grocery store. To me, the boxed pudding has an "off" flavor, but my grandma's recipe is the way chocolate pudding was meant to be!