Guilt free chocolate pudding

There's something liberating about writing a blog you know no one will likely ever see. For me I guess it's sort a of perfect harmony. I can say what I want and get stuff off my chest without worrying about it overmuch. I can keep myself motivated (and busy) which helps in 2 ways to keep me from reverting to old habits which could result in a binge. Doubtful after this long but I fear old habits are never too far absent and complacency is the first sign of failure looming. Lastly I have a place to post my recipes and recipes I've stolen and made my own (thanks foodwishes) where someone MAY just happen to find them and maybe appreciate one or two. If you want REAL recipes worth stealing however check out the foodwishes website, link in the sidebar. Chef John rocks and his site is worth more of a visit than this dump.

That said, here is my recipe, that I personally created for a rich chocolate pudding made from scratch with ZERO added sugar or fat (unless you WANT to add some anyway)
Note: Depending on what kind of milk you use there will still be SOME sugar and fat in this of course ... I did say ADDED sugar or fat ;)

What I found out AFTER I created this recipe, is that a few hundred thousand other good cooks had figured it out before me *shrugs* oh well that doesn't take away from the fact that I did this WITHOUT the knowledge that they had already done so. Ok yeah I knew but I never bothered to google their recipes ...

On to the pudding ....

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Splenda Sweetner
• 1/3 cup Cocoa Powder
• 2 cups 1% Milk
• 1/8 tsp Salt
• 3 tbsp 100% Pure Cornstarch
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions

1. Mix all dry ingredients in a saucepan and stir well. Slowly add milk stirring constantly to remove as many lumps as you can. Don't worry rest will disappear as it cooks.
2. Bring pudding to a slow boil over medium low heat, stirring frequently. Once pudding has thickened, remove from heat add a tsp vanilla and pour into 4 x 1/2 cup serving dishes or 3 larger cups for a more generous and satisfying treat.

Some might want to add butter or a tempered egg yolk to this at the very end stages before serving to make it a bit richer but I wouldn't bother it is plenty creamy without so why add all that extra fat and calories ... but you could if you wanted :)

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 1 half cup
Calories 99
Total Fat 2.85g
Cholesterol 5mg
Sodium 245.84mg
Total Carbohydrate 14.58g
Dietary Fiber 2.13g
Sugars 6.13g
Protein 5.7g


IA

PS: Of course there are all sorts of possible variations to this, I saw one person added a T of instant coffee to make it a mocha, since I didn't try that I have no idea if that is too much coffee or not enough, another user said to add a handful of mini marshmallow and crushed almonds to make it rocky road ... and yet another suggested adding a bit of real chocolate (semisweet) to make it even richer ... you get the idea. Me? I like it simple and only 99 calories.