Coconut Milk - Milk Chocolate Pudding

As you can tell by my posts of late, I have been obsessed with making a pudding that doesn't make me miss the sugar or the dairy. I think this recipe is the winner. It's really easy and it tastes like milk chocolate pudding. I can't wait to go home for a visit and make it for my sister!

(adapted from Couldn't Be Parve)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup cornstarch
3/4 cup coconut sugar
1 cup water
2 cups Thai coconut milk
2 ounces* good quality unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Combine the cornstarch and sugar in a medium bowl. Whisk in the water, continuing to whisk until smooth. Set aside. Place the coconut milk in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Stir in the cornstarch mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes back to a simmer and thickens. Reduce the heat to low and stir in the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is melted and remove from the heat. Stir in the vanilla.

Strain pudding through a fine-mesh strainer into a serving bowl or into a large measuring cup with a spout and pour into individual serving dishes. Cover pudding with plastic wrap. If you do not want pudding skin make sure the plastic is completely touching the surface of the pudding. To make pudding skin, simply pull plastic wrap over the top of the serving dish before refrigerating. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 days. (I skipped this entire paragraph and ate the pudding warm - it was delicious!)

*If you want dark chocolate pudding, use 4 oz of chocolate

Makes 7, 1/2 cup portions

Chocolate Pudding (Sugar Free, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Egg Free, Soy Free)

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups rice milk (reserve 1/4 cup rice milk for later)

1/2 cup unsweetened baking chocolate chips (I think it's about 3 oz unsweetened chocolate)

2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons cornstarch

3/4 cup agave nectar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract

Fresh raspberries, optional

Directions:

1. Combine 2 1/2 cups rice milk, chocolate, agave and cocoa powder in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk well, heating until the chocolate chips are completely melted and combined with the rice milk. Keep just below a boil, to "scald" rice milk. Remove from heat.

2. In a bowl, combine cornstarch and salt. Whisk well.

3. Add remaining 1/4 cup rice milk to cornstarch mixture, stirring until smooth.

4. Add to rice milk/chocolate mixture, stirring with a whisk. Continue whisking until pudding thickens to the consistency that it coats the back of a metal spoon.

5. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla extract.

6. Divide evenly among 4 ramekins or custard cups. Chill. Serve as is or topped with fresh raspberries.

Serves 4 - generously.

Easy Chocolate Frosting Recipe

I made yellow cupcakes from scratch yesterday using the Smitten Kitchen recipe. They tasted like yellow cake, but had the consistency of cornbread, so I wasn't the biggest fan. However, the frosting I made to go with it turned out great!

Ingredients:

2 cubes unsalted butter (softened to room temperature)

3 and a half cups powdered sugar (16 oz)

2 oz unsweetened chocolate

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 Tbsp almond milk

Beat butter in mixer for 2-3 minutes. Add powdered sugar, salt, vanilla, and almond milk. Blend until smooth. Heat chocolate in microwave in 15 second increments, stirring between, until fully melted. Add chocolate to frosting and blend until smooth.

I use this recipe without the chocolate as my standard butter-cream frosting recipe.

Dark Chocolate Fudge Pie

Crust:

choose your favorite gluten free crust. I used the following, but it didn't turn out that great:

1 1/2 cups hazelnut meal*

3 tbsp canola oil

2 tbsp coconut palm sugar

Filling:

3 ripe avocados

12 oz unsweetened chocolate

1 cup coconut palm sugar

1/3 cup agave nectar

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup almond milk*

Crust:

Mix hazelnut meal with oil and press into pie plate. Bake at 375 for 8 min.

Filling:

Blend avocados, lemon juice, vanilla, and milk in food processor or powerful blender. Melt chocolate in a double boiler or on very low heat and slowly stir coconut sugar into chocolate. Add agave to chocolate and stir. Once everything is incorporated, put chocolate in food processor/blender and blend until smooth. Place mixture in pie plate and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

This is a very rich dessert, so I would recommend serving it with fresh strawberries or raspberries.

Serves 8-12

*Easily substitutable with similar ingredients

Notes:

I plan on tweaking this to try and make it more like milk chocolate, because I'm not a huge fan of dark chocolate.

I never was able to get the coconut sugar to dissolve, my chocolate ended up being a lump of chocolate in the double boiler, but when I blended it with the avocado, everything became smooth.

This was super thick, so near the end of mixing, I ended up taking everything out of the blender and mixing it by hand.

Chocolate Cinnamon Meringue Pie

I started with this recipe and added my own little flair to it:

Crust:

One 9-inch pie crust, store-bought or homemade, unbaked (fitted in a pie plate)

Filling:

2/3 cup sugar

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 can (12 ounces) evaporated whole milk

3 eggs yolks

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Meringue

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cornstarch

3 egg whites

1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place pie crust in plate on a rimmed baking sheet; bake until crust is golden, about 20 minutes (or follow directions on store-bought package). Cool completely; set aside.

Put a fine-mesh sieve over a medium bowl; set aside. In a medium saucepan, off heat, whisk together 2/3 cup sugar, cocoa powder, flour, and 1 tablespoon cornstarch. Gradually whisk in evaporated milk. Whisk in egg yolks.

Place pan over medium heat; whisking constantly, cook until the first large bubble forms, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low; whisking constantly, cook 1 minute.

Immediately pour mixture through prepared sieve into bowl. Stir in butter and vanilla. Pour warm filling into baked crust; cover surface directly with plastic wrap. Chill at least 2 hours and up to 1 day.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites, remaining 1/3 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon cornstarch until stiff peaks form. Spread meringue on top of filling, right up to edge of crust; bake until meringue is lightly browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Serve immediately.

If you are preparing for the next day, let the pie cool to room temperature and then refrigerate.

Serves 8

Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 tablespoon dark sesame oil

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce (such as Sriracha)

1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger (or 1/4 tsp dry ground ginger)

1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind

2 garlic cloves, minced

Dash of sea salt

1 bunch green onions chopped

1 can water chestnuts, drained & diced

4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves cut into chunks (or 1 pkg tofu)

Cooking spray

8 Boston lettuce leaves (butter lettuce)

Toppings:

1 cup fresh mint leaves (optional)

1/2 cup bean sprouts (optional)

1 lime, cut into 8 wedges (optional)

Chopped cashews or peanuts (optional)

Preparation

Combine first 9 ingredients in a small bowl; stir with a whisk. Reserve 2 tablespoons oil mixture. Place remaining oil mixture in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add chicken breast halves; seal and marinate in refrigerator for 1 hour, turning occasionally. I was so hungry when I made this that I just tossed the chicken in the marinade and cooked it immediately. Remove chicken from bag, and discard marinade (if any is leftover).

Heat a large nonstick grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add chicken to pan; grill 12 minutes or until chicken is done. Add water chestnuts to pan. Stir until warm. Divide chicken evenly among lettuce leaves; top each lettuce leaf with green onions, sprouts, cashews or peanuts, and about 1 teaspoon reserved oil mixture as desired. Serve with lime wedges.