Every year when I was little, we would spend either Thanksgiving or Christmas at my grandparent’s house.  It was always a lot of fun being with the whole family, but the best part every year was dessert.  My grandmother used to make the most amazing dessert that I had always known as “Gook” but that is not its actual name- actually it was hot chocolate pudding.  I don’t know why it was called that other than maybe a combination of gooey cake, but either way- it is awesome.  For some reason around when I was ten or twelve, we stopped having this as dessert, and while of course only complimentary things were said of the new dessert- everyone really just wanted the “Gook” back.  I decided to make it for dessert last week mainly because the weather seemed to call for a hot dessert, and I hadn’t had this goodness in about twenty years.  It was everything I remembered and more.  The recipe calls for two squares of unsweetened chocolate.  I got the best unsweetened chocolate I could find at the grocery store as opposed to just the regular Baker’s Unsweetened Chocolate.  I think better chocolate equals better dessert.  The squares however were much bigger than the regular squares that you find, so I added extra sugar and milk to the recipe. The other slight adaption that I made was I only had skim milk, and I thought that heavier milk was probably needed.  I also had heavy whipping cream in the fridge, so I used a little more than half heavy cream and the rest skim milk- this worked well but probably whole milk would be best.  Also, the recipe says to grease and flour a double boiler.  I had never heard of this, nor had anyone at the store where I went to buy my double boiler.  The reason behind this is because the bottom and edges of the pudding get cakey- which is the desired effect, so if the double boiler is greased and floured- it is obviously easier to get out.  This might be the most decadent, rich and delicious chocolate dessert I have ever had because basically what you are making is not fully cooked brownies- it’s pretty awesome.  Enjoy!!

Hot Chocolate Pudding

Ingredients:

1 egg

1/2 cup sugar

3 tbsp butter

2 squares unsweetened chocolate

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup milk

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

Beat egg and sugar together.  Melt butter and chocolate.  Add to sugar mixture, beating well.  Add vanilla and milk, then the flour sifted with the baking powder and salt.  Place in greased and floured double boiler for 1 hour.  Serve at once with whipped cream.