Chocolate pudding bites

I look at a dessert menu first when I go to a restaurant…anyone else do the same?!? no? yes? What’s the fun of having dinner without dessert, right? yes? no? I hate when I’m excited to see the dessert menu and person you are having dinner with said ‘I’m good without it’. Wawawawaaaaaa~~~~

I made these little chocolate pudding bites at a culinary school as Petite four given out after dinner. And I make these quite often at home. I slowly find my way to the refrigerator, pop one of these in my mouth and make it way back to the living room….like nothing happened…It’s just perfect sweet something after dinner. The mint dark chocolate shaving I used had a little specs of sea salt so it is perfect little sweet  & salty something! If you double the recipe and use half sheet pan, you can have fancy little dessert bites perfect for holiday cocktail parties!. Please do not say no to dessert.

Ingredients
For the crust
7 Tablespoon butter, melted and still warm
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (or chocolate chips)

For the pudding
1/4 cup  sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 Tablespoon cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
5 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon strongly brewed coffee (optional if you want intense flavor)

Preparation
For the crust
1. Combine the melted butter with the brown sugar, vanilla, and salt. Add the flour and mix just until blended. Don’t panic if the dough seems too soft, it’s supposed to be like this. Line aluminum foil on 8×8 baking pan, big enough to go over the edge. (This will help when you cut them out with a cutter), then place parchment over it (just bottom) Press the dough evenly and smoothly over. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the crust is deep golden brown at the edges. Remove the pan from the oven and immediately sprinkle the chopped chocolate over the hot crust. Let stand for 2 to 3 minutes to melt the chocolate. Use a pastry brush or rubber spatula to spread the chocolate over the surface of the crust in a thin but thorough layer. Let the crust cool and then refrigerate it until the chocolate is set.

For the pudding
1. In a saucepan, whisk the sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt to blend. Add about 3 Tbs. of the milk and whisk to form a smooth paste. Whisk in the remaining milk and the cream. Heat the mixture over medium heat, stir till thickens. Add the chocolate, vanilla, and coffee(if you want) and stir a bit faster to smooth out the pudding, Pour the hot pudding onto the crust and level it the spatula. (Don’t go over more than twice-it will make an ugly mark as shown in my picture below. 🙂 see the middle part? Yikes…but you can cover it with chocolate shavings later on. So don’t panic.) Let the pudding cool the refrigerate the pan, uncovered, until the pudding is completely cool. Cover it and chill for at least several hours or overnight. Use the edges of the foil to lift the bars from the pan and transfer to a cutting board.

My square baking pan was gone missing...so I ended up using a round pan....sigh...:( Make sure you push it from the bottom where the crust is......ever so gently......(do you like my nail color? It's called 'Moonstruck' 🙂

2. Cut into round bite sizes using round cutters. (Dip the cutter into hot water before you cut. Also push it ‘GENTLY’ from the bottom where the crust is. You don’t want a big thumb hole in your pudding, right? ^*^)
3. Dust with coco powder and sprinkle with shaved chocolate (I used mint dark chocolate bar – shave it with your peeler)

Preparing my mini soldiers (at culinary school)....