Pudding - the experiment

For some reason I had the urge to make homemade vanilla pudding. And for some reason this morphed into wanting chocolate pudding (true chocoholic) instead. I checked some recipes and figured I'd give it a shot.

I ended up making both. The chocolate came out good. Next time I'll use better chocolate (live and learn). The vanilla was a disaster. It came out looking like bad tapioca (see photos here and here). I tried two different recipes (one using corn starch, one using corn syrup), and used soy milk instead of regular milk. This might've been a factor in why the vanilla didn't work. Corn starch worked (thickened the chocolate pudding), corn syrup, didn't (but should've).

Another lesson learned, the whisk is your best friend in pudding making. I used one, but should've used it the entire time (used a wooden spoon most of the time). Still, this tasted pretty good and I think its nice creamy texture would be great as a cake (or even eclair) filling. So perhaps the next time I need some, I'll remember :)

This is how I made the chocolate pudding:

2 1/2 cups soy milk (I used the shelf stable variety)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup corn starch
1 cup (8oz. semisweet chocolate chips)
1 TBS. vanilla

In a saucepan, scald (boil a bit) the soy milk. Whisk in the sugar and the corn starch. Cook until thick, (it takes a few minutes) stirring constantly. When thick, let it boil at least a minute to cook the corn starch. Take the pan off the heat and add the chocolate chips and the vanilla and stir until the chocolate melts.

Pour into cups (or small bowls) and refrigerate.

This tasted better after being in the fridge for a while. It was a little bland when it was warm, and more chocolatey when it was chilled.

All in all, this was a learning experience. I used two different kinds of soy milk (shelf stable for the chocolate and the refrigerated kind for the vanilla). This might've been a factor. But mainly I think the corn syrup recipe was missing something. (though what, I don't know).

I like to experiment, and this wasn't a loss. The whole thing (both recipes) took about 20 minutes and I have a dessert for the next couple of days. (the chocolate, I tossed the vanilla :)

There's another picture of the chocolate pudding here.