Grown-Up Chocolate Pudding with Raspberries
MAKES 4 SERVINGS • PREP TIME: 5 minutes • COOK TIME: 5 minutes
Talk about fun rendezvous. This little devil took a while to figure out, so my recipe tester, Catherine, and I kept meeting halfway between our homes. We’d sit in Catherine’s VW bug and she’d pull out a small container of the pudding; we’d taste, figure out what needed to be tinkered with, and off we’d go on our separate ways. I wanted something that would take me back to that comforting feeling pudding gave me as a kid, yet be a little more sophisticated for an adult palate. What we ended up with was a cross between pudding, custard, and pot de crème. If that sounds a bit decadent, well, guilty as charged. Coconut milk, dark chocolate (mood enhancer!!), cinnamon, cardamom . . . yup, this one will get your motor purring.
1 (13.66-ounce) can full-fat coconut milk
1 1/2 tablespoons ground kudzu root
3 tablespoons Grade A Dark Amber maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
3 1/2 ounces dark chocolate (70% cacao), finely chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pint raspberries
Pour 1/2 cup of coconut milk into a small bowl and add the kudzu. Whisk until well combined and set aside, whisking from time to time. Place the remaining coconut milk, maple syrup, cinnamon, cardamom, and salt in a heavy saucepan, whisking to combine. Heat over medium flame until the mixture simmers, then whisk in the kudzu slurry. Continue to cook, whisking often, until the mixture thickens and becomes bubbly, 3 to 4 minutes. Turn off the heat and whisk in the chopped chocolate and vanilla. Pour into six 1/2 cup size ramekins. The pudding will continue to thicken as it cools. To chill, cover with plastic pressed to the surface. Serve with the raspberries either warm, room temperature, or chilled.
COOK'S NOTE: Cacao content is the amount of pure cacao in a chocolate product; the higher the percentage, the more antioxidants the chocolate contains. And if you’re into addition by subtraction, higher cacao percentages also mean lower sugar content.
Reprinted with permission from The Healthy Mind Cookbook Copyright © 2015 by Rebecca Katz with Mat Edelson, Ten Speed Press, a division of the Crown Publishing Group, Berkeley, CA.