Baked Dark Chocolate Pudding

I have never made homemade pudding before, but now that I have, move over JELLO pudding and "Hello" to some quick and easy and DELICIOUS homemade dark chocolate pudding. My family enjoyed this last night as a little Christmas Eve treat after a lovely church service and my mom's famous Beef Stew. The consistency is more like brownie batter than pudding from a box, which only enhances the feeling that you are indulging in a guilty pleasure! Here is the recipe for your enjoyment:

Baked Dark Chocolate Pudding

10 oz dark or semisweet chocolate (roughly one bag of chocolate chips)
4 egg yolks
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup sugar
1 stick plus 6 Tablespoons of butter

- Preheat the oven to 325 F. Arrange 8 ramekins or small oven-safe bowls in a baking dish. (We used those small Pyrex glass dishes but anything oven-proof would work).
- Melt the chocolate in the microwave by heating for about 2 minutes and stirring every 30 seconds until smooth.
- In a bowl, with the electric mixer, beat the egg yolks, whole eggs, sugar and vanilla for about 4 minutes until pale and thickened.
- In a small saucepan, melt the butter and keep on heat until sizzling, but not brown.
- Wisk the melted chocolate in with the butter until smooth. Add to the egg mixture and beat until smooth.
- Pour in the the ramekins/jars/bowls. Pour boiling water into the baking dish until it reaches 1/2 way up the pudding containers.
- Bake for about 20 minutes until the tops of the puddings are set.
- Cool and top with whipped cream or Cool Whip and ENJOY!

This recipe is supposed to serve 8. I decided to 1/2 it. I served it to 5 adults and a 3 year-old. We probably had as much as we "needed" but not quite as much as we wanted. For future reference, I would probably say the full recipe would serve 5-6 adults nicely. Also, I decided to add the vanilla to the recipe. It was not a part of the original recipe. Next time I might try almond extract, or some mint extract or even a tablespoon or two of Kahlua or Baileys or plain expresso. Pretty much anything that would go with chocolate would be fun to toss in there.

And lastly, just in case you need a little extra convincing to give this a try, watch the video below for the endorsement of a true food expert (aka. My Cutie-Pie niece).