Chocolate+Pistachio= Perfecto

I don't know what it is about me lately, but I am all about the sweet treats! It must be the cold weather or something but every time I head to the kitchen all I want to make is dessert. There is nothing wrong with this of course, however my hips are starting to scream out for a drawstring waist!

I have decided to end my sweet tooth with, in my opinion the perfect pairing of chocolate and pistachio. This wicked combination is a winner all the way from your mouth right through to your stomach. The warm, rich chocolate pudding melds perfectly with the cold, smooth taste of pistachio gelati and for an even bigger hit why not throw in a warm chocolate sauce to make it an all time family favorite.

When I served these the other night I wasn't going to give the boys pistachio, I was quite happy to stick with the classic vanilla- however Max soon set me straight and insisted he (and Alex) have the 'green one'. I forgot he ate his body weight in pistachio gelati when we lived in Italy and only have myself to blame as I was the one who introduced it to him. I didn't make the same mistake with Alex, alas the colour pulled at his heart strings and there you have it, both boys now dive into my gelati stash....sometimes I wish I wasn't so insistant they try everything at least once!

I just had to take a photo (with much eye rolling from my husband) of the pudding all mixed up on my spoon, I wanted to savour the memory of how yummy it really was and I think this shot captures it beautifully, I mean don't you just want a little tasting yourself?

If so head for the kitchen, whip up the puddings and sauce then run out and buy your favorite gelati and prepare for a match made in dessert heaven. I promise the next post will be savory all the way.....

Chocolate Puddings and Sauce

Chocolate sauce:

1 cup milk- hot

1 tablespoon cornflour

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

2 tablespoons cold water

¼ cup castor sugar

50g dark or milk cooking chocolate, chopped

1 teaspoon butter

Puddings:

1 ½ cups plain flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

½ cup castor sugar

¼ cup cocoa powder

100g dark cooking chocolate, chopped

1 cup milk

1/3 cup melted butter

2 eggs

½ teaspoon vanilla essence

Method

Chocolate sauce:

Heat milk over medium heat until hot but NOT boiling.

In a small bowl combine cornflour, cocoa powder and cold water, stir to remove lumps.

When milk is hot add chocolate mixture, sugar and chopped chocolate.

Stir to combine, bring back to a medium heat and continue stirring until the sauce begins to boil.

Remove and stir in butter, once melted and sauce has a gloss pour over puddings.

Puddings:

Preheat oven to 180°C, spray a muffin tin with cooking spray and leave to one side.

Sift first four dry ingredients into a medium bowl and throw in chopped chocolate.

In another bowl mix together all the wet ingredients and whisk with a fork to combine.

Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and stir until you have a thick batter.

Pour into individual moulds.

Place muffin tin on an oven tray and pour 1/2 cup of water onto the tray for extra moisture.

Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes.

Remove from oven, tip out puddings, place in individual bowls, pour over chocolate sauce and pop a dollop of pistachio gelato on top- serve warm.

Notes

I like to make these individually so I can freeze the ones I am not eating and pull them out when needed, pop them in the microwave to heat up and eat them with choc sauce (if I have any left) or with what ever else is around the kitchen.

The other great aspect of this recipe is there is no cream to make you feel guilty!