German Chocolate Pudding

So last time I made chocolate pudding, I did not point it out to anyone, but it tasted a little powdery. It was good, but left room for improvement... Lately I have been short on money, but the last 3 days with all of the hiking that I have down or who knows what I have been craving sweets... but not caved to buy anything... rather I have made a few things here and there... I noticed the stamp date on my milk was yesterday, and there were about 4 cups left, so I began to think...  and re-create... I had some German Chocolate baker squares I found at the dollar store earlier this year... so... here is what became of it...

German Chocolate pudding...

In large enough pan add:

3 c whole milk

1 c sugar

2 oz of Baker's German chocolate 

(half of the box)

2 T of cocoa 

Bring to a light boil at medium heat.

While the first pan heats, in small bowel whisk: 

1 c whole milk

2 t vanilla

1 t salt

3 egg yolks

6 t of corn starch

Once the pan comes to a boil gradually add small parts of the the cold mixture in, whisking fast while adding. 

The flavor of this pudding turned out really good, but there were small pieces of egg that had cooked  before beating in, and I probably should have cooked it a bit longer because it did not set up fully... even this morning when I had some for breakfast... Anyways the flavor was good enough, the lack of powder flavor was gone, so I enjoyed it ;-) Maybe next time I'll use the same ingredients, but once the chocolate mixture boils gradually pour it in as my kitchen aid beats everything, then return it to the stove for a boil? We'll see ;-)

Easy Lemon Pudding and Cream Puffs

My roommates and I had an International Holiday Part on 12/7.. with the next week was finals I was a bit stressed, so I opted to make cream puffs, but wanted to try something different... I began by making homemade Lemon Pudding to fill them with. I loved the recipe, although I should have waited longer for the Pudding to set up more before filling them. Sorry no pics of the cream puffs, but they looked great on the Blue Platter, all sprinkled with sifted powdered sugar over them. See italics at the end of the recipes for the changes I made to it.

Lemon Pudding

• ¾ cup sugar
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• 2 ½ cups milk
• 3 egg yolks, beaten
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons butter

1. In a saucepan whisk together sugar and cornstarch.
2. Over medium heat, slowly whisk in milk. And cook for 2-3 minutes or until slightly thickened.
3. Place one cup of hot pudding mixture into a small bowl with the egg yolks. Whisk together. You are tempering the eggs.
4. Return egg/pudding mixture to the pan and continuing cooking over med heat until thickened. You need to stir this consistently.
5. Remove from heat and add lemon juice and butter. Stir until butter is melted and mixture is combined.
6. Strain pudding to remove any lumps.
7. Serve warm or cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator.  
8. *Knowing there would not be a lot of lemon pudding per cream puff, I bumped up the flavor at the end, by adding two cap-fulls of lemon extract after removing it from the heat. 
9. *I also did not strain the pudding. 
10. *I did the the egg/hot pudding mixture earlier, rather then later so they would not get stringy, and it worked really well.) 

Pastry Shell

1/2 cup butter

1 cup water

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

4 eggs

1	Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2.	In a large pot, bring water and butter to a rolling boil. Stir in flour and salt until the mixture forms a ball. Transfer the dough to a large mixing bowl. Using a wooden spoon or stand mixer, beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet.
3.	Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown. Centers should be dry.
4.	When the shells are cool, either split and fill them with the pudding mixture, or use a pastry bag to pipe the pudding into the shells. *I just used my kitchen aid, and it worked really well.*

Bigger than Chocolate Meringue pie

So I am doing a little catch up, and this was from about a week after thanksgiving. I still had the whole milk, so I made the following. It is basically a Chocolate Meringue pie, that I put in a pie 9 x 13 pan. 

Here is the recipe with what I did, but also thoughts on what I would change (in italics):

My cute new roommate, Jessie

Pie Crust: 
3 c flour
1 t salt 
1 c shortening
ice cold water

*do not use all of pie crust, just line the sides and bottom of pan, be sure to put fork holes in the crust * Bake until golden brown at a temp of 375 (for about) 

*This time, because I had it, I used the butter flavored shortening which gave the crust a little different flavor, that I kind of liked*

Chocolate Pudding 
4 c whole milk
1 C sugar
2/3 C + 2 T cocoa powder
8 t cornstarch  (I want to go down to at least 6 t next time) 
6 large egg yolks  (Save your egg whites for the meringue) 
3 t vanilla extract (increase to 5) 
2 t almond extract (leave out) 

½ t salt (bump up to ¾ t) 
Put 3 cups of the milk, the sugar, and the cocoa in a nonreactive saucepan. Bring to a simmer, over medium-high heat. Remove from the heat.

Meanwhile, whisk the remaining 1-cup of the milk, cornstarch, salt, egg yolks, and vanilla in a bowl. (I used the kitchen aid.) Gradually whisk the hot milk into the egg mixture. Return to the saucepan and cook over medium-high heat whisking constantly, until the pudding comes to a full boil. Reduce the heat to maintain a simmer, and continue whisking until thick, about 2 or 3 minutes more. Cover with saran wrap.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/chocolate-pudding-recipe/index.html

Meringue

Beat 6 egg whites and ¾ teaspoon cream of tartar at high speed of mixer until foamy. Slowly add remaining 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at time, beating until stiff peaks form and sugar dissolves (2 to 4 minutes).

Pour pudding into cooled baked pie crust. Spoon meringue onto pudding and carefully spread making sure to completely cover pudding and edge of crust. Bake for about 25 minutes at 325 or until lightly golden brown.
http://www.food.com/recipe/chocolate-meringue-pie-119236