Dairy-Free Chocolate Pudding

Dessert seems to be the only area in which I’m struggling with my newly discovered food allergies, but let’s face it dessert should be an occasional treat anyway so this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  However, sometimes dessert is desired and something tasty and presented in a beautiful manner makes a meal even more special.  While, I do try to make every day special, Christmas dinner just seems to be a meal that requires a little dessert treat and food allergies aside I was determined to come up with something we could enjoy.

I pulled out my old copy of The Farm Vegetarian Cook Book by The Farm Community and looked for an idea.  There are a couple pudding recipes in the book that use soy milk and I decided to see what I could do with those as my inspiration.  I bounce back and forth on the soy issue, sometimes I’m ok with it and sometimes I’m not.  Currently, I’m avoiding it.  If you’re ok with soy, use it – if you’re not I’m sure any milk alternative would be good: rice, hemp, almond, etc.

Dairy-Free Chocolate Coffee Pudding

• 1/3 Cup Cocoa
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 Cup Cornstarch (I use a non-GMO variety, it’s more expensive but worth it in my opinion)
• 3 Cups Coconut Milk (not the canned type but rather the kind sold in the aisle next to soy & rice milks)
• 1 Tablespoon Kahlua (optional but yummy)

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the cocoa, sugar, salt, and cornstarch.  Pour in the coconut milk, whisking it all together.  Place the saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil, whisking constantly.  Lower heat, cover the saucepan, and allow the mixture to boil gently for 10 minutes.  The mixture will come to a thick, creamy consistency after that 10 minutes.  Remove from heat, whisk in the coffee liqueur. 

Pour into one large bowl or into individual containers and chill.  After chilling for 1 hour, cover the container(s) with plastic wrap or lid to prevent a thick skin from forming.  Chill completely before serving.  Enjoy!