Chocolate Pudding Pops & Mocha Smoothie

Do you ever have extra milk you need to use up?  Last week I did, and I decided my choices were either to make yogurt (but I already had 2 large containers of that) or make pudding pops- guess I have to make pudding!  I found this recipe on the Everyday Life blog, where she says you can either refrigerate for pudding or freeze for pudding pops. Start with the chocolate pudding & you'll be on your way to making some mocha smoooooothies...

Chocolate Pudding
5 1/2 cups milk
1 cup sugar (I used rapadura)
6 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1/3 cup arrowroot powder (or cornstarch, I used arrowroot)
2 Tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons vanilla

Start out with a low heat on the stove and dissolve the sugar into milk, stirring or whisking until dissolved.  Then add the cocoa powder and arrowroot.  Increase your stove temperature to medium and stir with a spoon (to be sure it doesn't stick on the bottom- keep on stirring!)  After several minutes the mixture will thicken and you can remove it from the heat.  Stir in the butter and vanilla.  Allow to cool slightly and then either refrigerate or freeze.

Now I will be honest & say that I usually don't care for the "stand and stir" recipes (which most pudding recipes fall into).  It just doesn't feel efficient to me: I have to multi-task!  Of course this has been the death of more than one "stand and stir" recipe.  [Thanksgivings come to mind when I used to make a pumpkin custard pie every year for my father-in-law, and sometimes I would have to make it twice because of not minding it closely enough- ugh!]  Thankfully, my mom was visiting and could help me stir the pudding while I made blueberry jam.  Yes, I was multi-tasking: I can't help it!

Last week I posted about Creamy Probiotic Popsicles and I suggested that if you don't have a popsicle mold that you use a muffin pan.  So, this time I tried it.  Did I mention this recipe makes a lot?  Oh, yes it does!  And do you see how pitiful my popsicle mold stock is (I only have 5 containers, it is supposed to be 6 but one went missing years ago when my daughter was a toddler...)

After I took this picture I placed a toothpick in each mini muffin cup, just layed it in there, and put the whole thing in the freezer.  A day later I pulled it out & ran hot water over the bottom for a few seconds to loosen them (don't take too long with the hot water, they melt fast, and be careful not to impale your hand on the toothpicks- ouch!)  It worked great!  I put them all in a ziploc bag & tossed it back in the freezer.  Voila!

 Hmm, well that picture looks a little messy.  Certainly not going to win me any awards.  But we did end up with mini popsicles!

Now, I am going to share with you my favorite way to enjoy these.  See that ice cube tray up there?  I also popped those out & put them in a ziploc in the freezer.  The next day we had some coffee that did not get finished in the morning, so I put it in the fridge.  Later that afternoon when I was ready for a snack, I pulled it out & threw together this awesome mocha smoothie!  


Mocha Smoothie
1 cup cold coffee
3/4 cup milk
5 cubes of frozen chocolate pudding
small amount of stevia, honey, sugar, or maple syrup to taste

Combine all ingredients in blender until smooth.  Pour into a tall glass & say yum!  (Makes about 2 servings- so share, but only if you want to...)

 This picture was taken when I made it using 1/2 cup milk and 1/4 cup homemade vanilla ice cream- oh yeah!  Why not use all ice cream & make a mocha milkshake?  Now we're talking!

Enjoy!
Lisa