So there’s this thing about me.
I really really don’t like making Halloween treats. Tombstone cupcakes. Spider web cookies. Witch finger snacks. Please… just please. I can’t get into it. I don’t want things to look dead, or bugged, or dismembered.
I want things to look sweet and chocolatey and dripping with caramel… and not blood-colored caramel. Please!
I feel like I should come clean now, before you expect some sort of zombie cake.
Oh. Also… I don’t really have time to make tombstone cupcakes. I’m dedicating most of my time to planning my super slutty panda bear costume.
I’m kidding.
…. I’m so so kidding.
Right?
I have a wonderfully exciting, secret ingredient in this Midnight Black Chocolate Pudding. It’s Black Onyx Cocoa Powder. See how black it is!? Especially compared to the regular cocoa powder hanging out in the back. See!? Intense.
Let me tell you a little about this cocoa powder.
Black Onyx Cocoa Powder has been alkalized to the max. That means that it’s acids have been super neutralized. If you’re using this cocoa powder in a recipe, you’ll probably want to pair it with baking powder, as it doesn’t have the acid to react with the baking soda.
Still with me?
This cocoa powder has less fat than regular (lighter) cocoa powder, so it may produce a more dry end product. It’s been suggested that you use half black cocoa and half regular cocoa. Black cocoa powder is an intense chocolate flavor. It smells like crushed up Oreo cookies. It makes cookies, puddings and cakes as dark as midnight! I’m so into it. It’s perfect in this pudding because there’s no worry of over drying.
Black Onyx Cocoa Powder is an awesome way for be to act Halloween-y without making slutty witch fingers.
I love this pudding recipe because it’s thickened by both egg yolks and cornstarch. The yolks provide a nice richness while the cornstarch is a no fail thickener.
Look how luscious!
Wait… is luscious an awkward word?
A little.
It’s like art… but it’s just a dirty dish.
See that orange flower back there? That was my attempt at festivity.
Please say you’re proud of me or something.
Oh hey! One more thing. In case you’re thinking of dressing up as the slutty version of a random something this Halloween, can I please please please suggest that you NOT DO THAT!?
I might have to write a whole blog post about that.
Let’s just stick to pudding for now.
This pudding is rich, dark, unapologetic. It’s chocolate right in your face!
Of course you can make this recipe using regular cocoa and not the fancy Black Onyx… but, hey! Try a little darkness. It’s the season.
Midnight Black Chocolate Pudding
makes 4 servings
adapted from Tyler Florence
2 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (just 1/2 cup sugar if using regular cocoa powder)
1/3 cup black onyx cocoa powder
4 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1/2 vanilla bean
1 cup heavy cream
2 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 vanilla bean
pinch of salt
Place 2 cups milk in a medium saucepan with sugar and cocoa powder. Heat over medium heat until steaming and warm. You don’t necessarily have to boil the mixture, just heat it up and whisk it together.
In a medium bowl, whisk together remaining 1/2 cup milk, cornstarch, salt, egg yolks, and vanilla extract. Drizzle about half of the steaming hot chocolate milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly. This will temper the eggs, making them a bit warm before they’re cooked over a flame. Return all of the chocolate, milk, egg mixture back to the saucepan. Heat over medium heat, whisking nearly constantly. Make sure the get into the corners of the pan where the pudding might stick and overcook.
When pudding starts to boil, continue to whisk and boil for about 2 to 3 minutes. Pudding will thicken. Remove from heat and spoon into 4 ramekins or jars. Cover with plastic wrap (on the surface of the pudding if you want to avoid pudding skin). Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
For the whipped cream, whip together heavy cream, sugar, vanilla bean, and a pinch of salt. Dollop over cold pudding and serve.
Twinkle
lol slutty panda bear. The pudding looks so yummy! And I love your nail polish!
kara
I love that you serve the pudding in mason jars! There’s something so practically clever about eating out of jars. aces
Nina @ Ambrosia
This. Looks. Soooooo. Good. Chocolate pudding is one of my favorite treats ever, I’m totally all over this! Definitely making it soon.
Maggie @ A Bitchin' Kitchen
I am drooling just looking at this. Homemade pudding is one of my favorite desserts ever, and the addition of the dark cocoa makes it look even more luscious <– used your word. Haha…I don't think it's an awkward word, just accurate in this case!
aw
that really does look amazingly yummy. i know how you feel about making all the halloween-y stuff, its cool, but no thanks, not my style. i want my food to be wanted (and to know what it is hahaha). great post :)
lynn @ the actor's diet
i’m very into orange food so i like halloween-themed stuff. dressing up, though, i’m over it.
Frances @ The Foodess Files
Ohmygoodness!! I love the idea of this!! So much classy than just eating all the candy meant for the trick or treaters, and turning the light off early in shame. I will def hotfoot it over to Surfas and see if I can rustle up some of this cocoa powder for myself! Can’t wait. :)
sara
Oooh, this looks really delicious! So dark and chocolate-y. Yum!
Hannah @ Sparrow + Spark!
These look amazing! Oh yum to all that cream!
We don’t really do Halloween that much over here, so I have only ever dressed up as a cat and a witch- the most boring costumes ever!
Natashia@foodonpaper
Agree – don’t like the Halloween food, might be because we don’t do Halloween in Australia. So this pudding works for me, perfect in fact.
Maia
Man oh man… I am SO with you on the anti-slutty-costume movement. In high school, I went out of my way to dress up like totally unsexy men who dominated current events at the time. (Personal faves: Saddam Hussein & Bill Clinton.) One year, I did a *satirically* slutty costume by going as Lady Godiva (in a nude suit wearing a HIDEOUS, stinky, floor-length, synthetic curly blonde wig). And then there was college, when I got a little abstract as “baby corn” (all yellow + skullcap + pacifier)… cause, you know, baby corn is both cute AND scary. like a playboy bunny who’s been bitten by a vampire. (?? I have actually seen that more than once.)
Second, props to you for the orange flower in the background. Totally Halloweeny in a super classy, cute, and not panderingly gory or over-the-top way.
Anyway, your chocolatey pots look delicious. I can only imagine they taste as intense as they look!
Shushmi
I agree about the anti-slutty look! on halloween I always see ‘slut-vampire’…and the only vampy thing abt the outfit will be some fake teeth. SO funny to see. and soo overdone. Love the baby-corn costume – might be cute but you can always relate it back to Children of the Corn too! :)
Maia
After all these years, I had never thought of the “Children of the Corn” connection. Ha!
Averie @ Love Veggies and Yoga
Joy these look stellar. Dark, thick, rich, luscious, amazing.
And I love that the whipped cream layer is equal in size to the choc layer. Great minds think alike on that one!
Ann P.
holy cannoli, this looks SO delicious, I can hardly stand it! If I make these (and I probably will), I’ll have about 3 per day… so wonderful! Not to mention, you’ve cracked me up once again. Awesome post, Joy!
Farmor
This sounds delicious! Love the color and am thinking a dash of rum couldn’t hurt?
Ann P.
Rum– GENIUS! :D
Gina @ Running to the Kitchen
I’m with you on the Halloween-ish foods. It’s just not appetizing to eat something that looks like a witch’s finger. I don’t eat finger nails whether they’re really almond slices or not! I do eat chocolate pudding though ;)