Homemade Chocolate Pudding Pots

📝 Ingredients

• 600 ml semi-skimmed milk
• 30 g unsweetened cocoa powder
• 70 g caster sugar
• 35 g cornflour
• 10 g unsalted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 pinch of salt

🍴 Utensils

• Heavy-bottomed saucepan
• Whisk
• Bowl
• Fine sieve
• 4 pots or ramekins of 200 ml
• Cling film

📖 Steps

1. In the bowl, whisk together the dry cornflour, cocoa, sugar and salt until there are no lumps of cocoa left. Pour in 150 ml of cold milk (taken from the 600 ml) and whisk until you have a very smooth, runny paste.
2. Pour the rest of the milk into the saucepan and heat over a medium heat until it just starts to simmer, when small bubbles appear around the edges. Don't let it come to a rolling boil: it would rise and boil over.
3. Take the pan off the heat and pour the cocoa mixture into the hot milk, whisking vigorously so it combines without lumps, then return the pan to a medium-low heat.
4. Cook for 3 to 5 min, whisking constantly and scraping the bottom and corners of the pan well: the pudding thickens all at once when it starts to bubble. Then let it cook for another 1 min so the cornflour loses its floury taste.
5. Off the heat, add the butter and vanilla and whisk for 30 s until the pudding is smooth and glossy. If there are any lumps left, push it through the fine sieve with the back of a spoon.
6. Immediately divide the pudding between the 4 pots, then press cling film directly onto the surface of each one: this is what stops a thick skin forming as it cools.
7. Leave to cool for 20 min at room temperature, then chill for at least 2 h, until the pudding is cold and set. Before eating, stir it lightly with a spoon to get that creamy shop-bought pot texture.