Tofu Chocolate Pudding

This recipe has evolved so much in the past 6 years that it now deserves its own post.

I often omit the cinnamon and chili powder and sometime sprinkle cinnamon on top of the pudding before serving, especially if it follows a Mexican dinner. Or for a special occasion, garnish with a few raspberries.

For the original recipe and other variations see: Vegan Mexican Chocolate Pudding

In a small saucepan combine:

    1/4 c sugar

    1/4 c water

Bring to a boil and stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.

In the bowl of a food processor place:

    4 oz toasted hazelnuts or toasted almonds

Process until the nuts are finely ground. Then add:

    16 oz silken tofu   

In a glass container microwave until melted (I use a one cup measuring cup and microwave in two 3 oz batches) and then add to the food processor bowl:

     6 oz dark chocolate (I use 365 Dark Chocolate Baking Chunks)

Pour the sugar-water mixture into the container that held the chocolate, and scrape to free most of the remaining chocolate before adding to the food processor bowl.

Then add:

    1 t vanilla extract if using hazelnuts 

    OR 1 t almond extract if using almonds

    1 1/2 t cinnamon (optional/to taste)

    1/2 t chipolte chili powder (optional/to taste)

Blend throughly, stopping the food processor to scrape the sides of the bowl at least once, then either spoon the mixture into a quart container or distribute (~3.7 oz/serving) into individual dishes. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

Revised 4/6/24 - photos added

 

January Spring :-(

 After an unseasonably mild holiday season, we finally got snow this past weekend - enough that I finally had a nice x-c ski on Monday. So much for winter, for now at least. After a day of heavy rain the snow is all but gone and the temperature today was in the fiftys. Spent most of the day taking care of downed branches and trees that had been damaged by the heavy snow. When cutting up the branches of the top of a small tree that had broken off in the storm, I noticed something very disconcerting: tiny buds - tiny buds on January 10th in Massachusetts. Not a good sign! The rule of thumb used to be one could bring forsythia into the house in mid February, put it in warm water and after several days it would bloom. The buds on my forsythia are already tender. What is happening to the fruit trees? Hoping that 2024 won't be even hotter than 2023.*

*"BRUSSELS, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Last year was the planet's hottest on record by a substantial margin and likely the world's warmest in the last 100,000 years, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said on Tuesday."