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Mocha Pudding

By America's Test Kitchen

Published on April 11, 2013

Time

20 minutes, plus 4 hours chilling

Yield

Serves 4

Mocha Pudding

Ingredients

¼ cup packed (1¾ ounces/50 grams) light brown sugar 2 tablespoons instant espresso powder 3 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder 3 tablespoons cornstarch ¼ teaspoon salt 2 ¾ cups whole milk ¼ cup heavy cream 1 cup (6 ounces/170 grams) milk chocolate chips ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Before You Begin

Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Chips are our favorite brand. Using chips saves you the trouble of chopping, but 6 ounces of bar milk chocolate, chopped, works, too.

Instructions

  1. Combine brown sugar, espresso powder, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt in large saucepan. Whisk milk and cream into sugar mixture until smooth. Add chocolate chips and bring to simmer, whisking occasionally, over medium heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, whisking constantly, until thickened and large bubbles appear at surface, 2 to 3 minutes. Off heat, stir in vanilla.
  2. Transfer pudding to large bowl and place plastic wrap directly on surface of pudding. Refrigerate until completely cool, at least 4 hours. (Pudding can be refrigerated in airtight container for 3 days.) Serve.
  3. Chill Faster, Eat Sooner: To some pudding lovers (especially little ones), waiting 4 hours to eat pudding seems like a lifetime. To speed the chilling, transfer the pudding to a 13 by 9-inch baking dish in step 2 and place plastic wrap directly on its surface. Place in freezer until completely cool, at least 45 minutes or up to 1 hour.
Mocha Pudding

Mocha Pudding

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By America's Test Kitchen
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Time

20 minutes, plus 4 hours chilling

Yield

Serves 4

Ingredients

¼ cup packed (1¾ ounces/50 grams) light brown sugar
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
3 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder
3 tablespoons cornstarch
¼ teaspoon salt
2 ¾ cups whole milk
¼ cup heavy cream
1 cup (6 ounces/170 grams) milk chocolate chips
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Test Kitchen Techniques

Ingredients

¼ cup packed (1¾ ounces/50 grams) light brown sugar
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
3 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder
3 tablespoons cornstarch
¼ teaspoon salt
2 ¾ cups whole milk
¼ cup heavy cream
1 cup (6 ounces/170 grams) milk chocolate chips
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Test Kitchen Techniques

Ingredients

¼ cup packed (1¾ ounces/50 grams) light brown sugar
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
3 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder
3 tablespoons cornstarch
¼ teaspoon salt
2 ¾ cups whole milk
¼ cup heavy cream
1 cup (6 ounces/170 grams) milk chocolate chips
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Test Kitchen Techniques

Why This Recipe Works

Cocoa powder provided a healthy dose of chocolate flavor to our Pudding recipe, but we could only add so much before the pudding became too gritty. Milk chocolate chips offered just the right amount of chocolate flavor to complement the cocoa powder, while instant espresso powder imparted deep coffee flavor to the pudding. A small dose of vanilla extract helped deepen the flavors of the pudding, and a dash of salt brought them forward.

Omitting eggs from our Pudding saved us the laborious step of straining our finished product to remove any stray bits of scrambled egg.

Before You Begin

Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Chips are our favorite brand. Using chips saves you the trouble of chopping, but 6 ounces of bar milk chocolate, chopped, works, too.

Instructions

  1. Combine brown sugar, espresso powder, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt in large saucepan. Whisk milk and cream into sugar mixture until smooth. Add chocolate chips and bring to simmer, whisking occasionally, over medium heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, whisking constantly, until thickened and large bubbles appear at surface, 2 to 3 minutes. Off heat, stir in vanilla.
  2. Transfer pudding to large bowl and place plastic wrap directly on surface of pudding. Refrigerate until completely cool, at least 4 hours. (Pudding can be refrigerated in airtight container for 3 days.) Serve.
  3. Chill Faster, Eat Sooner: To some pudding lovers (especially little ones), waiting 4 hours to eat pudding seems like a lifetime. To speed the chilling, transfer the pudding to a 13 by 9-inch baking dish in step 2 and place plastic wrap directly on its surface. Place in freezer until completely cool, at least 45 minutes or up to 1 hour.

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