Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Easy Chocolate Pudding


Last week was Grammy Vittles' 80th birthday!

My grandmother is just adorable.  I love her to death. 

Let me tell you a little about her...

She is super stylish and loves to shop (but at good stores, like J.Crew and Anthropologie- not 'old lady' stores).

Her favorite hobby is hooking rugs, and over the years she has made so many amazing keepsakes for everyone in our family.

She spoils her grandchildren rotten, and her nickname for us is "Pumpkin" (except she says it like "punkin.")

She calls grilled cheese sandwiches "toasted cheese sandwiches." 

On the first day of the month, she tells people "Hello Rabbit" because it's supposed to be good luck.

She got a computer just so she could play Mahjong Solitaire on it.

She gave me the cutest ruffled polka dot apron for my birthday last year, and suggested "You can surprise [Mr. Vittles] one night and wear it with nothing underneath." 

!!

(In case you were wondering- no, I have not done that)

She makes a fierce grilled skirt steak and potato salad.

Whenever she spills on herself, or if something goes 'down the wrong pipe' when she's eating, she says "Don't mind me- I'm just learning."

And... she keeps her bourbon under the kitchen sink, where it's "more easily accessible."

How cute is she?

Grammy, October 2009

Although Grammy does not really go on the internet, she's been very supportive of Vittles and Bits.  She even gave me one of her recipe boxes, as well as the recipe box that belonged to her mother.



I never knew my great-grandmother on her side, in fact not even my mom did - she passed away in 1954, not long after after my mother was born.

So to see her recipes (many of them written in her own hand) was extremely special. 

I couldn't help but notice she had a ton of recipes with orange- orange pound cake, orange sherbert, orange ice, orange icebox cake...etc, etc.  And Grammy conceded that she did enjoy citrus desserts!

But one that I picked to try first was this recipe for chocolate pudding.  "For utmost deliciousness," it said, "serve with whipped cream.

Utmost deliciousness?  Apparently, being adorable runs in the family.

Easy Chocolate Pudding
  • 2 C. milk
  • 5 T. cornstarch
  • 1/3 C. cocoa powder (dutch processed)
  • 1/3 C. + 1 T. granulated sugar
Mix sugar, cornstarch, and cocoa with 1/2 C. milk.  Heat remaining 1 1/2 C. milk in small saucepan over med-low heat until steaming.  Add cocoa mixture to pan, and heat until thickened, stirring constantly (2-3 minutes).  Increase heat slightly if necessary to thicken.  Transfer to bowl or individual ramekins, and sprinkle tops with sugar to prevent skin from forming on pudding.  Cover and refrigerate until chilled.  Serve plain or with whipped cream (for "utmost deliciousness" ;)) Serves 2-3.

Recipe Origin Unknown


Linked to Full Plate Thursday

15 comments:

  1. Your grandma is gorgeous! 80? Wow...I hope I look that good at 80. Happy Birthday!

    ReplyDelete
  2. OMG I love your Grammy! I thoroughly enjoyed this post! I will have to try this pudding!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your Grammy is a hoot! And beautiful, too!

    I live amongst chocoholics, so this pudding would be a huge hit! Thanks for sharing~

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your Grammy is so adorable, and the pudding looks tasty!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Super cute post! I love that she shops at Anthropologie, that is one of my favorite stores.
    That chocolate pudding looks amazing as well. I think it would make a great addition to my Valentine's Day.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Such a great and adorable post! Makes me miss my Grammy so such. If that is a recent photo Granny Vittles is lookin' good! Haha! She is too cute! Chocolate pudding sounds so yummy. Just wanted to inform you of a Culinary Smackdown Battle I am hosting and would love for you to participate if you are interested. Check it out at: http://imapretendchef.blogspot.com/2011/01/culinary-smackdown-battle-hand-held.html

    ReplyDelete
  7. Your Grandmother's lovely! I miss mine. One of my favorite things is an old handwritten recipe of hers that I keep framed in the kitchen. She started me cooking and I love to remember her with the dishes I make.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Your Pudding looks spectacular! Thanks for a gorgeous post!
    Your Grammy is the cutest..you made me miss mine..

    US Masala

    ReplyDelete
  9. I think I love your Grammy too..hee hee. When I saw the word easy in the recipe, I had to click on it. Sometimes the easiest ones are truly the tastiest!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Your gram sounds adorable! :) I like computer majjong too! Thanks for sharing her recipes with us!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Chocolate Pudding is one of my all time favorites and yours looks delicious. Thank you so much for bringing it to Full Plate Thursday for us to enjoy. You have a great week end and please come back!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Your grandma sounds great!! And so does the pudding! I will give this a try. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oh, homemade pudding. Awesome and it looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Congratulations, you are featured on Full Plate Thursday this week 2-10-11. You can stop by and pick up your Red Plate.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi Maggie :-) After seeing that your chocolate pudding was chosen by Miz Helen, I had to come by and check yours out, seeings how I too had recently featured a chocolate pudding. ;-)

    Here's the link to my version - http://thebzhousethatlovebuilt.blogspot.com/2011/01/for-cold-winters-night.html

    I wish that all grandma's strove to be like yours! Because I am positive everybody would benefit from it!

    Her advice about the apron makes sense .... Erma Bombeck use to say that 'lovin started in the kitchen' ;-p Just make sure your shades are closed first o;-p

    ReplyDelete

I love reading your comments!

If you have a question or problem you can also feel free to email me at vittlesandbits@gmail.com. Thanks for visiting :)

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...