Puddings of The Times

The food page in this past Sunday's New York Times Magazine was entitled Lovin' Spoonfools and it was a piece by Sara Dickerman about the pleasures of puddings, soft and creamy, traditional and not so traditional. 

For Sara - and for many of us, I'm sure - the sweetness of pudding begins even before the first spoonful because there's something serene, sensuous and satisfying in the act ofjust making pudding.  Sara, who is a terrific writer (you can find some of her work on Slate, including Down with Gloves, for which she won a James Beard Foundation Journalism Award), describes the peaceful process of stirring a pudding on the top of the stove and coming to that almost magical moment when the pudding starts to thicken. 

Then, just when she has us imagining the hypnotic zen-like action of quietly stirring our puddings into a silken state, she admits that she - like me, actually because of me - uses the food processor to make pudding.  As she says: [it's] a little mechanical voodoo to ward off lumps and aerate the final mixture.  I love that description!  Using the food processor is clearly a compromise, but Sara's worked out the difference between what she gets and what she has to give up.  The noise of the whizzing machine might disturb the calm of my stovetop reverie, but the satin texture makes the disruption worthwhile, she writes.

The article includes recipes for five puddings that couldn't be more different one from the other.  There's the author's Rice Pudding with Chai Spices and Saffron Apricots (how good does that sound!) as well as her Hasty Pudding; a Mango Pudding from Sherry Yard's excellent new book, Desserts by the Yard; a Baked Corn Pudding made with John Cope's Sweet Dried Corn, which I'm dying to try; and the Gianduja Pudding, pictured above (the photo, by Tony Cenicola, is from The New York Times).

The Gianduja Pudding is adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours and I think it's a terrific riff on my Chocolate Pudding.  Gianduja always means there'll be chocolate and hazelnuts and Sara uses hazelnuts to infuse the pudding's milk and Frangelico, a hazelnut liqueur, to deepen the nuts' flavor. 

If you want to go straight with the chocolate pudding, here's the recipe

CHOCOLATE PUDDING, From Baking From My Home To Yours

Makes 6 servings

2 1/4 cups whole milk

6 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

2 large egg yolks

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and still warm

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Getting Ready: Have six ramekins or pudding cups, each holding 4 to 6 ounces (1/2 to 3/4 cup), at hand.

Bring 2 cups of the milk and 3 tablespoons of the sugar to a boil in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan.

While the milk is heating, put the cocoa, cornstarch and salt into a food processor and whir to blend.  Turn them out onto a piece of wax paper, put the remaining 3 tablespoons sugar, the egg and egg yolks into the processor and blend for 1 minute.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the remaining 1/4 cup milk and pulse just to mix, then add the dry ingredients and pulse a few times to blend.

With the machine running, very slowly pour in the hot milk mixture.  Process for a few seconds, then put everything back into the saucepan.  Whisk without stopping over medium heat - making sure to get into the edges of the pan - until the pudding thickens and a couple of bubbles burble up to the surface and pop (about 2 minutes).  You want the pudding to thicken, but you don't want it to boil, so lower the heat if necessary.

Scrape the pudding back into the processor (if there's a scorched spot, avoid it as you scrape) and pulse a couple of times.  Add the chocolate, butter and vanilla and pulse until everything is evenly blended.

Pour the pudding into ramekins.  If you don't want a skin to form (some people think the skin is the best part), press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of each pudding to create an airtight seal.  Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Comments

[Holly]

I'm very excited to make this as this week's Tuesdays with Dorie pick. I love chocolate pudding and this recipe has been bookmarked for a while.

[Dorie]

Tawnia, wouldn't you have thought that because you ate chocolate pudding when you were pregnant that your son would love pudding? I thought that by eating everything, absolutely everything, when I was pregnanat that my son would turn out to love everything -- but it didn't work. He has an excellent palate, but there's a huge range of food he just won't go near, even though I tried "feeding" it to him when I was pregnant.

[Tawnia]

This recipe really brings back memories. When I was expecting my son (18 years ago) I craved chocolate pudding and made it frequently. Would you believe no one in my household likes or eats pudding? No matter--your recipe has me back to craving (no babies this time)and I can't wait to try it.

[Dorie]

Louisa, I've waited so long to respond that by now I'm sure the snow has melted - it might even be springlike where you are. Sure hope so. Happily, while snow and pudding are a great combination, pudding and sunshine aren't bad either.

JEP, making the pudding sans food processor will be fine - you can't go wrong with chocolate+pudding.

Alejandra, I'm with you on the worth of pudding. I'm curious about the almond pudding - was it pure almond or did it have another flavoring as well? Why am I thinking rose?

Maddy, thanks for the good words about the pudding. I'm sure if you liked it plain, you'll like Sara Dickerman's hazelnut version.

Oliverde, I know what you're talking about in terms of "thickened" lemon bars, but I don't have and I can't remember seeing a recipe that doesn't have a little flour or cornstarch to hold the lemon topping together. I think part of the problem is that the topping is *not* curd (which is thickened by the power of egg yolks and heat). You might try cheating: bake a lemon-bar crust, cool it, then spread your favorite lemon curd over it. Chill it well, then cut. It won't be a classic lemon bar, but it might be what you want.

Emiline, the food processor is like an insurance policy that makes sure the texture is smooth. Tapioca ... mmmm ... it's been a long time since I've had tapioca pudding, but now that you mention it ...

LoCo, If you don't want to use the food processor, that's fine, but I wouldn't bother with the stand mixer. Just do the mixing by hand and, if your cooked pudding isn't perfectly smooth, just push it thru a strainer.

[LoCo]

Dorie, this sounds wonderful. But I detest getting my FP out of the cabinet, setting it up, cleaning it up and putting it back. Usually more work than just doing it by hand, so I only use it when there's a huge time/labor benefit. On the other hand, my stand mixer is always on the counter. Seems this recipe could be easily adapted to the mixer with the whisk attachment, which I'm going to try out. Anything I should consider before doing so?

[Emiline]

I've never tried whizzing up the ingredients in a food processor, when I make pudding! I bet that really does make a difference in texture. Pudding is so comforting, especially chocolate. Hazelnut does sound good...I think I feel like tapioca, right now.

[oliverde]

Hi Dorie...

I've got a sort of pudding related question: I've been in manic lemon bar mode, but every single recipe that I've tried incorporates some sort of thickening agent, (flour, cornstarch, etc) in the curd. Am absolutely not fond of this stuff in my lemon curd, as it dilutes and starchefies the taste, and am wondering if you knew of any way other than making the custardy curd too flan eggy, to make a fab lemon bar and have a clean tasting curd wich sets up nicely?

[maddy]

Yum! I can attest that your chocolate pudding is fantastic (although I make it without the food processor). I love the idea of adding hazelnuts- I'll have to try it soon!

[Alejandra]

Pudding is most definitely worth a trek to the store! I just had the most fantastic almond pudding at a Turkish restaurant the other night and am determined to make some this weekend. (And I especially love the skin...)

[JEP]

The recipe does sound absolutely delicious but I have no food processor & really would rather try it stove-top, anyway!

[Louisa]

I was just thinking this morning that I need pudding, but I'm out of whole milk and it's still a blizzard outside. I do like the skin, don't think it's the best part, but enough that I like to use wide, shallow dishes - plus caramelized nut powder! Is chocolate pudding worth a treacherous trek to the store? Contemplating...