Vegan chocolate pudding

There’s nothing like chocolate pudding to help two crabby and tired parents unwind at the end of the day.

I went through a chocolate pudding phase a couple of years ago and came across this recipe from smitten kitchen that I really liked.  Tonight I made a modified version of it that is vegan, has less sugar, and more chocolate and vanilla.  It was just exactly what we needed.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 to 1/3 cup sugar
1/8th tsp. salt
3 cups coconut milk beverage (I use So Delicious Original)
7 oz vegan bittersweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Put water into the bottom of a double boiler, or into a pot that fits on top of another pot, and bring to a simmer.  Mix the cornstarch, sugar, and salt together and put in the top of the pot.  Slowly add the 3 cups of coconut milk beverage while whisking to avoid lumps.

Continue stirring fairly often for about 20 minutes, until it thickens.  Add the chocolate chips and stir until completely melted.  Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.  You could also add other ingredients at this point such as cinnamon, cayenne, nutmeg, almond extract, orange extract, mint extract, etc.

Pour into bowls.  I like to eat it warm, but it can also be refrigerated if you prefer it cold or want to eat it later.  Enjoy.

Updated 18 September 2012:
A commenter pointed out that I made this with Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips, which are not vegan.  I’ve changed the ingredient list to say “vegan bittersweet chocolate chips”, but I haven’t had a chance to try it yet.  I hope to get the chance to try it soon, and then I will post an update.