Homemade Mexican Chocolate Pudding

This week is a bit odd in that both Peter and I are starting new terms/rotations, which means new schedules, and he also is headed home for a quick 24 hours to attend his grandfather's funeral.  I'm super bummed I can't go with, but hospital obligations will keep me in Chicago, carless!  Thankfully, my friend Brie came to the rescue and is transporting me to and from the hospital tomorrow.

As a thank-you, I offered to make her dinner during our downtime.  I'm making Easy Chicken Enchiladas (recipe to come!) and needed a quick make-ahead dessert, without going back to the grocery store.  I remembered my mom making homemade puddings on random weekdays when I was little, and it felt special while being easy.  Perfect!  The skeleton of the recipe below is from Taste of Home, but I added several touches, namely increasing the cocoa (why not?), and adding coffee and cinnamon to make it "Mexican", to go with the enchilada theme.

If you add coffee grounds, you'll see and "feel" them, but really, I find nothing wrong with that.  I don't know a single med student who would be like, "coffee?  no thanks..."  And the cinnamon....well it's just lovely with chocolate.  Trust me, you'll like this combo!  You could also put your own chef-y touches on chocolate pudding:  try leaving out the cinnamon/coffee and adding some orange liquor, peppermint extract, Disaronno liquor, etc (not all at once, of course).

Homemade Mexican Chocolate Pudding

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
Sprinkle of ground coffee or 1 tsp brewed coffee
2 cups milk
Dash of cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp butter

In a small saucepan, combine cocoa, sugar, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon, and coffee.  Whisk in milk slowly, and heat until boiling.  Stirring constantly, boil 2 minutes.  It will thicken pretty quickly, so keep stirring!  When it's thickened and coats the back of a spoon, turn off heat and stir in vanilla and butter.  Pour into ramekin dishes (or pie shell!) and quickly cover with plastic wrap so that it's touching the surface to prevent skin formation.  Chill and enjoy every last spoonful!