Some of you who read my blog often know how much I love the local raw milk that we are able to get here through a share. If you want to know more about that, read *this post*

I made pudding this week when I should have been doing a shoot… but that’s OK, it was well worth it. This recipe is really simple and old-fashioned and bittersweet. Use the best possible chocolate (72% at least) that you can find. If you don’t have raw milk, use whatever milk you do have.

1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 pinch of fine sea salt
2 cups raw milk
1 large egg yolk, placed in a separate bowl
4 ounces finely chopped chocolate

1. Combine the brown sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch, and sea salt in a heavy saucepan. Whisk to combine and also to break up the brown sugar. Whisk in the milk gradually and bring everything to a boil. Whisk constantly until the mixture thickens. That usually takes about 5 minutes.

2. Remove from the heat. Lightly beat the egg yolk and add some of the pudding, whisking, to temper. If you were to just add the egg yolk to the hot pudding without tempering, it will scramble. Add the egg yolk/pudding mix back in to the rest of the pudding and whisk to combine. Add the chopped chocolate and continue to whisk until it is smooth. Make sure there are no lumps!

3. Pour the pudding into ramekins, or whatever kind of dessert cup you would like, and cool off a bit before putting them into the fridge to chill. If you don’t want skin to form, cover the pudding surface with either some wax paper or plastic wrap. Chill for at least 2 hours.

One of the best parts about homemade chocolate pudding is eating some warm. Delicious!