Shtinky Puddin

Well, these puddings look good, don't they? Like if you were to dip a spoon into one of them, you would emerge with a creamy mound of rich, dark chocolate that would fill your mouth with joy and happiness.

Oh, if only.

Granted, this was a low-fat recipe, using skim milk and cocoa powder instead of cream and melted chocolate. I chose this one because I was planning on serving the pudding at the end of a fondue meal (post to come!), and I thought it would be good to have a sweet dessert that wasn't too rich afterward. Reviews and descriptions had led me to believe that I wouldn't be able to tell the difference, or if I could, I wouldn't mind.

But call it something like a bland chocolate flan, and it might be close. My very kind friends described the texture as "somewhere between Jell-O and pudding." It wasn't sweet enough, chocolately enough, or smooth enough; each pudding was a stoic gelatinous blob into which spoons sliced rather than sank. I knew from how fast the hot pudding had set that something in the texture might be off, but by then it was too late.

I could have experimented with re-cooking it and thinning it out I suppose, although I have no idea if that would have helped. Well, at least I got to use my set of ramekins for the first time.

Recipe:
"Dark Chocolate Pudding," Moosewood Collective