The one great thing about making my own updated retro food is it is usually fast and cheap! I don’t know about you but those are two things that I care about deeply, especially right now.
It has been hot and humid and I am financially recovering from my Toronto trip. As a result, I have wanted to stay home and play around with food I already which resulted in this fabulously tasty and super rich dessert.
I turned to my old copy of The Magic of JELL-O: 100 New and Favorite Recipes Celebrating 100 Years of Fun with JELL-O that I got at Value Village for inspiration.
The “Recipe”
I decided to go with a box of no-name chocolate pudding I had and make it with skim milk but I decided to make it mocha flavoured by adding some instant espresso!
I dissolved 2 tsp of instant espresso in 2 tbsp of hot water.
Then I thought, hey, I have hazelnut syrup now! Why not add 1 tsp of that too?! Done. Then I set aside to cool.
I poured in the milk according to the directions, I think it was 2 cups. To keep this relatively healthy, I used skim milk.
I added the espresso and hazelnut to the milk.
Whisk! Whisk! Whisk!
Then I added the chocolate pudding mix to the hazelnut mocha milk. Sounds good already right?!
This is when I realized I should have used a bigger bowl.
I poured into my pretty glass bowls and put in the fridge to set.
Reg was so excited we had dessert! It has been a while.
Man, was this ever rich. I had a few spoonfuls and had to stop. So rich! Delicious but a tad overwhelming for me. Not Reg! He ate his whole bowl pretty darn quickly. The next night we split the one I had worked on.
My advice? Turn this into a parfait with something creamy and dreamy between the layers to lighten it up. Or you could add some vanilla yogurt, Cool Whip or heavy cream to the mix before chilling. If you like it super strong, leave as it and get a big spoon.
Yes, I could have worked over a hot stove and made pudding from scratch but right now, especially with my back out of whack, it is either this or nothing.
I will take my pimped up pudding thank you very much.
“pimped up pudding” — LOL!
I love that Jell-o book, it’s so much fun. We made the Chocolate Pudding Milkshakes the other day and it was a hit (needed a few ice cubes though, it got a little thick).
That last photo in your post with the 2 glass cups is awesome, it’s looks like it came right out of the seventies cookbook man!
Really sounds like a great recipe!
Sounds sooooo good! I wonder how it would taste made with some light coconut milk?
Such a fun book Ava! Gotta try the shakes. Oh, I like that, contemporary reto food photography!
Thanks Debra and Madeja!
Janet, go for it, why noy? You can toast up some coconut and turn it into a Caribbean-style pudding with a little rum extract? Make it yours!