Potted Mint-Chocolate Puddings
A few months ago on Valentine’s day my boyfriend was out of town and I had the house to myself. Instead of feeling lonely or bored, I went to Target and bought myself some chocolate and magazines. It was awesome. One of the magazines I purchased was the March issue of Martha Stewart Living, mostly because it looked like a particularly gorgeous and inspiring issue.
That’s when I flipped the page and saw these little potted chocolate puddings. What a fabulous idea. One of my favorite desserts as a kid was “mud” pudding, chocolate pudding covered in ground cookie “dirt” crumbs and crawling with gummy worms. This is like a modern, slightly gourmet version of that pudding, even adults can enjoy it. And although I don’t have any gummy worms on hand, I would suggest adding at least one to the mix. For old time’s sake.
Recipe Rundown
Taste: The perfect combination of chocolate and mint. Heavenly.
Texture: Luscious and thick and smooth and creamy and crunchy.
Ease: Fairly easy, especially if you’ve made homemade pudding before. If you haven’t, what are you waiting for?!
Appearance: Aren’t these the cutest things you’ve ever seen??
Pros: Super cute, perfect for spring holidays, picnics, parties.
Cons: None.
Would I make this again? Yes.
Taste: The perfect combination of chocolate and mint. Heavenly.
Texture: Luscious and thick and smooth and creamy and crunchy.
Ease: Fairly easy, especially if you’ve made homemade pudding before. If you haven’t, what are you waiting for?!
Appearance: Aren’t these the cutest things you’ve ever seen??
Pros: Super cute, perfect for spring holidays, picnics, parties.
Cons: None.
Would I make this again? Yes.
Potted Mint-Chocolate Puddings
From Martha Stewart Living March 2011
Serves 8
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- Salt
- 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
- 1 1/4 cups whole milk
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped (1 cup)
- 1/2 teaspoon pure mint extract
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 10 chocolate wafer cookies
- Garnish: mint sprigs
- Whisk together sugar, cornstarch, cocoa, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a medium saucepan. Combine cream, milk, and vanilla in a liquid measuring cup.
- Pour 1 cup cream mixture into sugar mixture, and whisk until cornstarch is dissolved. Add remaining cream mixture, and whisk until smooth. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly, and cook until thick, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low, and add chocolate. Whisk until chocolate melts, about 1 minute.
- Remove from heat. Add mint extract and butter, and whisk until butter melts. Quickly divide pudding, whisking as you work to prevent sides from setting up, among eight 4-ounce glasses or glass flowerpot votive candle holders (candle4less.com), leaving about 1/2 inch of space at the top of each. Refrigerate until set, about 1 1/2 hours.
- Just before serving, pulse cookies in a food processor until finely ground. Top each pudding with 1 tablespoon ground-cookie “dirt,” and garnish with a planted mint sprig. Serve chilled.
This is absolutely adorable! I am going to make this for sure!
that's so great!! what a lovely idea!
These are so great! Especially refined without the gummy worm.
These are so cute. I want chocolate pudding now.
Or worms in dirt. 
Absolutely wonderful presentation! Beyond cute. I am in love
. Retwitting this and following this site!
handleheat replied: — April 30th, 2011 @ 8:55 pm
Thank you!
How adorable! And they look absolutely delicious!
OMG, these are totally adorable! Chocolate pudding at its best!:)
can I use anything else than cornstarch?
thank you so much!
You can try to substitute arrowroot for the cornstarch (use 2 tablespoons arrowroot for this recipe) but the texture may be altered. For best results, try sticking to cornstarch.
These are so cool! Kind of similar to the Carvel ice cream cakes I used to have for my birthday parties as a kid. Chocolate and vanilla ice cream with chocolate cookie crumbles between the layers. I will definitely try this recipe soon
My husband constantly begs me to make the mud pudding for him – I'll have to try this recipe next time he asks. They are really adorable!