Mexican Chocolate Pudding

Chips and salsa, guacamole, tortilla soup and margaritas! We were having mexican food night at our place and I had to figure out what to make for dessert! Then it hit me, Mexican chocolate! Last week Chris and I had Mexican chocolate ice cream in Healdsburg and it really hit the spot. The great thing about this recipes is you can have it hot or cold, so it’s perfect any time of year...as long as you like cinnamon.

Makes: 2 cups (4 servings)

Preparation time: 5m
Cooking time: 5m
Total time: 10m

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar (or 4 dates, but you must have a powerful blender like a Vitamix otherwise it will end up lumpy)
  • 1 1/2 cups unsweetened almond milk
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup sliced almonds

Equipment: blender, saucepan

Instructions:

  1. Put all of the ingredients into a blender and blend on high until combined. (If you have a Vitamix you can leave the blender running until the mixture thickens - about 5 minutes - and skip to step 3, otherwise continue to step 2).
  2. Pour the mixture into a saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until the mixture reaches the desired thickness. Stir constantly to keep it from burning or getting lumpy. This will also allow you to see how thick it is. Remove it from the heat as soon as it is the thickness you want otherwise it will get lumpy. If you are using cold milk this may take up to 10 minutes, but will probably only take about 5. It will bubble up a bit. When the foam settles it thickens quickly so watch it closely.
  3. Enjoy while it is hot or refrigerate and enjoy cold during the summer. If you plan to have it cold, just know that it will thicken up a bit more as it cools.
  4. Top it with sliced almonds or toss the almonds into a dry skillet for a few minutes to toast them over medium heat. For instructions on how to toast almonds, see my post on INLINE-LINK-START title="How To Toast Coconut" href="../../../howtos/how-to-toast-coconut">How To Toast Coconut INLINE-LINK-END - it's exactly the same process.