Posted on February 7, 2010

2/14/10 – Contest Closed

There’s nothing quite as comforting or satisfying as this thick, rich dairy free, sugar free pudding. With an upfront chocolaty taste and a smooth, light coconut finish, I found myself pleasantly suprised.

Pudding hasn’t graced my lips for over 6 years. At some point the powdered stuff from the box lost it’s appeal. And not being a pudding fan, I never tried to whip up a batch myself.

So why make pudding?

Nicolette generously offered to give a copy of her book, I Love Dessert but NOT Sugar, Wheat, Milk, Gluten, Corn, Soy, Unhealthy Fat…, to one of my readers.

You’ve seen her recipes here before – carob brownies and the gingerbread I used to make my Daring Baker’s Gingerbread House. If you read Kim’s blog, The Food Allergy Coach, you’ve seen her amaranth apple cobbler, buckwheat brownies, and quinoa chocolate chip cookies.

Even though I’m not a pudding aficionado, I wanted to give you something new from Nicolette’s book – it has a little bit of everything. I had all of the ingredients for pudding on hand so that’s what went in the sauce pot.

How did it taste?

When the pudding was still warm, I hesitantly dipped my spoon into a bowl put the tip in my mouth lest my taste buds revolt. An involuntary smile spread across my face. I promptly finished off the first spoonful then drug my spoon back across the pudding and savored it once again. 10 minutes later I had an empty bowl and a happy belly.

Below is Nicolette’s recipe. I made just a few changes, which I’ve noted at the bottom.

Printer-friendly recipe
Chocolate or Carob Pudding
makes about 4 servings
reprinted with permission from I Love Dessert

1/4 cup carob or cocoa powder
5 tablespoons arrowroot or tapioca starch
2 cups coconut milk, goat or other alternative milk (or cow’s milk if tolerated)
1/2 cup agave, Fruit Sweet, or honey
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (optional)

Stir together the carob powder or cocoa and starch in a saucepan. Add 1/2 cup of the milk and stir until it forms a smooth paste. Stir in the rest of the mik and the sweetener and cook the pudding over medium heat, stirring frequently, until it thickens and comes to a boil. Remove the pudding from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Serve the pudding warm or cold.

I made these changes:

I used lite coconut milk – it’s what I had on hand. I ended up adding 2 cans, about 3 1/2 cups. This is a thick pudding and I like mine a little thinner.
Being a chocolate lover, I added 2 extra tablespoons or cocoa powder and 1/2 teaspoon of instant decaf to enhance the flavor a little more.
I used 1/4 cup of agave and 1/2 teaspoon of liquid stevia.
As you can tell from the pics, my pudding got topped with toasted, unsweetened coconut flakes. Pop them in a 350 degree oven for 1 1/2 minutes or so and they’re perfect.

To Enter the Give Away:

Visit Nicolette’s I Love Dessert recipe list and comment about something you’d like to make.
Check out Nicolette’s website – Food-Allergy.org and tell us what you like.
Tweet about this give-away with a link and leave a comment telling me you did.
Post about the give-away on your blog with a link back and leave a comment telling me you did.
Subscribe to my feed either via RSS or e-mail – leave a comment.
Follow me on Twitter – again, leave a comment.
Add me to your friends on Facebook with a comment.

Open only to residents of the 48 continental United States…sorry to all my international friends.

Boring Full Disclosure Statement: I did receive a free copy of Nicolette’s book, I Love Dessert. This is not a paid give-away. My personal opinion is that Nicolette’s work can help many people and I’m happy to share it with my readers.