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Chocolate-Almond Pudding

By America's Test Kitchen

Published on October 11, 2011

Time

20 minutes, plus 4 hours chilling

Yield

Serves 4

Chocolate-Almond Pudding

Ingredients

½ cup sliced almonds ¼ cup packed (1¾ ounces/50 grams) light brown sugar 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 almond 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. Place almonds in skillet over medium heat. Stirring often, toast until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
  2. Combine brown sugar, 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 almond extract.
  3. 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.) Sprinkle with sliced almonds. Serve.
  4. 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.
Chocolate-Almond Pudding

Chocolate-Almond 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

½ cup sliced almonds
¼ cup packed (1¾ ounces/50 grams) light brown sugar
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 almond extract

Test Kitchen Techniques

Ingredients

½ cup sliced almonds
¼ cup packed (1¾ ounces/50 grams) light brown sugar
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 almond extract

Test Kitchen Techniques

Ingredients

½ cup sliced almonds
¼ cup packed (1¾ ounces/50 grams) light brown sugar
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 almond extract

Test Kitchen Techniques

Why This Recipe Works

Cocoa powder provided a healthy dose of chocolate flavor to our Chocolate 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. A small dose of vanilla extract helped deepen the flavors of the pudding, while a dash of salt brought them forward. Switching neutral granulated sugar for more rounded, molasses-y brown sugar further improved the flavor of the pudding.

Omitting eggs from our Chocolate 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. Place almonds in skillet over medium heat. Stirring often, toast until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
  2. Combine brown sugar, 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 almond extract.
  3. 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.) Sprinkle with sliced almonds. Serve.
  4. 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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