Zero waste Chocolate Pudding

I’m sorry, I don’t have a picture of the chocolate pudding we made last night, but trust me, it was GOOD, and since I’m going to give you the very easy recipe, you can make your own in no time.

This was sort of a re-discovery for me since my grandma used to make pudding for us pretty often; plus, lots of people make their own puddings from scratch or the instant jello-mix types that have some sort of instant-gel chemical in them. However, so many would think it was a difficult or delicate or inconvenient thing to make your own, and end up buying them from the store in those little plastic single-serving cups for a price that, now that I know how easy and inexpensive it is to make it myself, is completely exorbitant. Because the plastic-producing means of eating this particular store bought treat are so intrinsically wasteful, we never buy them (even the “organic fair trade” ones, since they are in the same ridiculous packaging, and must contain some kind of preservative as well).

Happily, this was made with all dry ingredients on hand (+water) that can all be found in the bulk section of your grocery, or come in recyclable cardboard or paper containers. You could probably even put the blended dry ingredients in a container and make it when you go camping, as long as you have someone willing to stir it patiently on low heat for 15 minutes or so.

Yummy, Fast & Easy Chocolate Pudding

(from the “More-With-Less” World Community Cookbook, Doris Janzen Longacre, Commissioned by the Mennonite Central Committee, available at Ten Thousand Villages stores across Canada) I highly recommend this cookbook – it’s awesome in so many ways

Combine in a heavy saucepan:
1/3 c. sugar or honey
2 T. cornstarch
2 T. Cocoa
2 c. Milk
Cook over low heat until thickened, stirring constantly. (the aim here is to get it slowly up to a temperature *just* below boiling point, then keep it there until it looks thick enough – I spent 15-20 mins doing this, but it could definitely happen quicker)

Add:
1 T. vanilla
1 T. margarine (optional – I didn’t use it and it tasted fine)

serve warm or cold, serves 4-6

(options: stir in 1/4 c. peanut butter while still hot, omit margarine)

notes:
- you can use organic or non-GMO, or substitute tapioca starch which is slightly less likely to be GMO than corn.
- I used powdered milk from 1/2 cup instant skim milk powder and 500mL water
- I forgot to add the vanilla, so we served it with a bit of vanilla ice cream which was delish!
- I put the puddings in the fridge while we ate dinner and they ended up being just lukewarm by the time we ate them which was nice. They thickened slightly as they cooled.
- the recipe says it serves 4-6, but I confess, we only made two servings of ~220mL each, which was not “too much”. 4 servings would pass but 6 is too much of a stretch. Especially if you are taking it camping for 4, double up on the recipe!

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