World's Best Chocolate Pudding

Remember how I said my apron's first stain looked suspiciously chocolatey? This is the culprit: the World's Best Chocolate Pudding.

Unfortunately pudding is a pretty ugly thing to photograph under glaring fluorescent lights at 9:30 pm, but trust me when I say that it looks better in real life! This particular recipe is super simple, too, with only five ingredients needed for a nice rich pudding. The ingredients listed as "optional" are ones I threw into this particular batch, though I'm sure I'll be experimenting with different flavors too in the future.

Best Ever Chocolate Pudding

2 C milk

1 egg yolk

1 heaping tbs flour

2 heaping tbs unsweetened cocoa powder

½ C sugar

Pinch of salt

Optional:

1 tbs butter

Orange zest

Handful of bittersweet chocolate chips

Mix flour, cocoa powder, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan, then add the milk. If you want a subtle orange twist, use a vegetable peeler to make two long strips of orange zest and add them to the cool milk mixture at this point. Heat on medium until bubbles just begin to barely form,

stirring regularly, then lower the heat to medium-low. Remove the orange zest. If you are adding the chocolate chips and/or butter, add them now and continue to stir.

As soon as the pudding seems well blended, pour it through a mesh strainer into whatever container(s) you want to store it in. You’ll need to cover it to prevent a skin from forming on top, but in only a couple hours it will be set and ready to eat.