CHOCOLATE Friday ~ Chocolate Pudding With Almond Milk

Sorry I'm so late in getting CHOCOLATE Friday up!  It got too late last night and my eyes wouldn't stay open.  Now the kiddo is at school and I got Starbucks for the hubs and me so I can finally finish!  I knew that CHOCOLATE Friday people are a generally friendly bunch and would forgive me.  :)  Let's get to the chocolate!!

I have a recipe and a review for you today!  I was recently contacted to try out some new almond milk.  I couldn't say no as my son LOVES almond milk and this is organic!

Almond milk is gaining in popularity as it's delicious, good for you, and a great non-dairy option.  I've been able to find it at most grocery stores now.  But Whole Foods Market has improved it!  Their 365 Everyday Value Organics brand now has organic refrigerated almond milks!  It's so great to have organic almond milk available!  You can use almond milk on your cereal, in your coffee drinks, and so much more.  How about trying this recipe for Cherry Almond Smoothies (yum)?

There are currently 3 flavors of 365 Everyday Value Organic Almondmilk that you can buy:  original, vanilla, and unsweetened.  My son really likes the original and the vanilla.  In fact, he noticed that they taste better than the other brands we've tried.  Not only do I like the flavor, but I really like knowing that I'm serving my family a quality (and affordable) almond milk.  And I HAD to try it out in a chocolate recipe!

Did you know that you can make your own chocolate pudding mix?  Forget the box with the long list of ingredients and try this!  It's easy to mix up and you can store the mix for when those chocolate pudding cravings hit.

Chocolate Pudding Mix

3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder*
1 5/8 cups (1 1/2 plus 1/8) powdered sugar
2/3 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt

In bowl, combine all ingredients.  Stir with whisk until well-sifted.  Store in sealed container for up to 4 months.  Makes 3 cups mix (enough for 3 batches of pudding).

*I recommend Dutched cocoa powder for this recipe if you have it on hand ~ (What is Dutched cocoa?).

This is actually a half batch that I made because I knew we wouldn't be eating chocolate pudding often enough to need 6 batches in the next few months.  You can easily double the mix recipe to have more on hand.  Isn't that a cool recipe to have?!

I made the mix into chocolate pudding, but I used my 365 Everyday Value Organic Vanilla Almondmilk!  Yum!!

Chocolate pudding all cooked up.

Chocolate Almond Pudding

Chocolate Almond Pudding

1 cup Chocolate Pudding Mix
2 3/4 cups Vanilla Almond Milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/4 teaspoons almond extract

In saucepan, combine pudding mix and almond milk.  Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils and thickens (takes a while, but it does thicken!).  Remove from heat, stir in butter and almond extract.  Pour into 6 serving bowls.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least an hour.  If you like "skin" on your pudding, cover top as usual with plastic wrap.  If you don't want the "skin", then push plastic wrap down onto the top of the pudding in the bowl (the skin will come off on the plastic - think of George making pudding skins to save and eat on Seinfeld).

To make regular chocolate pudding, substitute regular milk for almond milk and vanilla extract for the almond.

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Now go make your own chocolate pudding mix to have on hand!  And head over to Whole Foods Market to try out the 365 Everyday Value Organic Almondmilks!

Do you have a chocolate post?  I know you do - it might have posted this week or it might be buried in your archives!  Either way - go grab it and bring it back here to link up so we can share the chocolate!  Click here for more Chocolate Friday info or look at last week's yummy post and links.  This post will be up all weekend, so there'll be plenty of time to stop and smell the chocolate!  :) 

Have you ever made pudding from scratch?  Have you tried almond milk before?

Disclosure:  I was sent a Whole Foods gift card so that I could purchase almond milks to try and review if I so chose.  As always, my opinions are my own!

I'm linking this post up to Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam - lots of yummy recipes there!

Have a chocolatey day friends!!