Pudding Out

   Tonight, I decided it was time to get town and dirty with some brown sugar. Well, actually white sugar mixed with chocolate powder creating more of a beige than anything else, really. Regardless, I set to work with an old family recipe to create some puddin'.
   Puddin' isn't so difficult to make, but, as anyone whose ever tried the delicious treat could tell you, there is never enough. So I took the standard puddin' recipee (makes 3 servings) and doubled it. This meant that I used 3 cups of sugar, 6 tablespoons of unsweetened coco powder, 4 tablespoons of corn starch, 3 pinches of salt, 3 cups of milk, and a whole lot of chocolate and vanilla.
    Like a good joke, puddin' is all about the timing. The first part is easy; mix your sugar, coco powder, cornstarch and salt into the bowl you intend to cook with. The stirred mixture should end up looking like this:

Enough chocolate for all the little boys

   Now, something almost resembling skill must come into play. As you poor your three cups of milk into the mixture be sure to mix continuously. The recipe I used advised me to pour in half the milk, whisk until smooth, and then add the rest of the milk. In an effort to get a clear picture of both the poring milk and rotating whisk, I sort of half did this. What actually happened was that I stopped whisking and poring in-between many attempts to get a picture that was not blurred by motion or awkwardly catching a glare from an overhanging light. 

Attempt # 1

Attempt # 2

Attempt # 3

Attempt #4

   With all the first-round ingredients appropriately mixed, I placed the pot on a burner and cooked at half power, constantly stirring. The process, which was supposed to take 5 minutes, was greatly elongated by the exaggerated ingredients. It seemed to take a fortnight. 

   Finally, the pudding began to thicken in the pot. This was good as I was beginning to feel myself age and was starting to worry about my social security. After another eternity the mixture began to boil. I let it sit on the stove for an additional one minute (as should you) before turning off the heat and removing the pot from the hot burner. I added 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and my chocolate chips. I am told the pudding can be too chocolaty. Though I am not sure if this is true, I decided to play is safe and only added 1-1/2 handfuls of delicious chocolate chips. 

   Then, I stirred all the ingredients together and scooped out the pudding into a glass bowl to be put into the freezer for cooling. The pudding should be let to cool for 30-40 minutes before serving. Being a person inclined to immediate gratification, I decided to scoop myself one bowl of hot pudding. However, during the scooping process, the whisk which had been sitting in the pot fell from its resting place, hit my sweater and then hit the floor. Chocolate went everywhere. It was no mess that couldn't be cleaned with a paper towel and a quick trip to the laundry, but it was the only cooking-foul made. 

My little brother helped with the cleaning process:

And a hot bowl for the chef:

  At this moment, a shout out must be given to the woman who made it all possible. Momma Maroney, who provided and created the recipe, is the true heroin of today's post.