Mexican Chocolate Pudding

Cooking and baking lift my mood and give me peace. Baking my my yoga. My time in the kitchen makes me happy but when I really need something to make me feel better...I turn to pudding. When I am upset whipping-up a batch of chocolate pudding just changes my whole mind set. Personally I think the constant whisking is what helps me work out any Oscar the Grouch like feelings and of the course the added bonus of being able to eat a warm bowl of delicious chocolate pudding helps.
Now besides pudding helping to transform me from a villain to a Disney princess; homemade pudding tastes a thousand times better than box or store bought. There is no comparison-those who disagree are big fat liars and do deserve homemade pudding. Also it is a great way to use up some extra milk. These are great reasons
 why to make pudding but I really hope that the fact that I said chocolate pudding is reason enough to be interested.
This last week I made some chocolate pudding more to have chocolate and use up milk  than lift my mood.  I put a little twist on my chocolate pudding and made it a Mexican Chocolate Pudding to spice it up.

Here is the recipe:
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2 tablespoons corn starch
2 cups milk
1 egg beaten
4 oz semisweet chocolate (chopped)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
a dash of chili powder
1 tablespoon of butter

Whisk together sugar, cocoa powder, and corn starch in a sauce pan. Turn on to medium heat and slowly whisk in the milk, then add the chopped chocolate. Whisk this mixture almost constantly to prevent sticking. Let the pudding come to a boil  and cook for two more minutes while whisking constantly. Remove from heat and take about one cup of the pudding to temper into the egg. Return egg mixture to the pudding and return to medium heat. Once the pudding bubbles again, let the mixture cook for two more minutes while stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and add vanilla, cinnamon, chili powder, and the butter.
Let the mixture cool. If you do not the pudding skin, place saran wrap on the top of the pudding.

Side Note: I use skim milk as I do in almost all of my recipes and so the fat content is very low in this pudding. And if you wanted to you could even leave out the sugar, as the semisweet chocolate is sweet.

Enjoy your pudding.