S’mores Pudding Cups

First off, how much fun is this animated GIF?!  And it’s so easy to make.  I use Photoshop Elements and this took me maybe 15 minutes start to finish, including photo editing.  Gotta love those people who post YouTube tutorials!  You can rest assured that if something I make has layers you’ll be seeing one of these again.

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This sweet dessert is inspired by the s’mores pot de creme at Sweet Houston.  Their version is a little different.  They have a layer of chocolate cake crumbles (I think) along with the graham layer, chocolate mousse (or maybe it’s pudding) and marshmallow cream.  They come in darling little glass jars, but I found that these Beechnut baby food jars work just as well!

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When I came across a recipe for chocolate pudding in the most recent Fine Cooking I knew I wanted to make it, but thought I’d do something a little special.  The pudding itself tastes reminiscent of Jello instant in the best way possible.  I’d never made pudding from scratch before and it was a lot of fun!  One of the reasons I love cooking is watching simple ingredients transform, and pudding is one of those things that becomes something so much more than it’s raw ingredients through cooking.  It’s almost as good at whipping egg whites and sugar into a magical fluffy meringue!

Instead of plain crushed graham crackers I took a trick from the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook and made graham crumb!  Boy, it is good.  The recipe below will yield enough for the desserts with plenty left for you to sprinkle over ice cream or any extra pudding!

There may be an amazingly simply recipe for marshmallow cream, but I find that using the pre-made stuff in a jar suited me just fine.

To assemble these cleanly I used 2 piping bags, but large ziplocs with the corner snipped off would be just as good.

After assembling them just pop them under the broiler for 30 seconds to a minute.  You get the same great crunchy caramelized sugar goodness as a real s’more.

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You can serve them right away or store them in the fridge for a couple hours.  You can store them in the fridge for a day or two, but they won’t be as pretty.  The marshmallow fluff starts to seep in and around the other layers.  It still tastes delicious, but the layers are less visible.  These are a mess to eat…just like a s’more should be.  Enjoy!

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S’mores Pudding Cups

Makes 8-10 individual dessert cups

Ingredients

  • 1 recipe chocolate pudding
  • 1 recipe graham crumb
  • 1 1/2 containers marshmallow fluff

Chocolate Pudding

  • 6 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup cream
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Graham Crumb

  • 1 sleeve graham crackers, crushed
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 3 tablespoons milk powder
  • 4 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

Chocolate Pudding

  1. Sift the cocoa powder, cornstarch, and salt into a medium bowl.
  2. Mix in the cream and then the egg yolks.  This mixture will be very thick.
  3. Heat the milk and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring often until the sugar dissolves. When bubbles form around the edge of the milk, remove the pan from the heat.
  4. Whisk about half of the hot milk into the cocoa mixture. When smooth, whisk it into the milk remaining in the saucepan.
  5. Bring the pudding to a boil over medium-high heat, whisking slowly and scraping the bottom of the pot to prevent scorching. The pudding will begin to thicken as it approaches a full boil. Watch for large, lava-like bubbles to roll up to the surface, and for small fast bubbles on the edges. When the pudding has reached this stage, turn the heat down to medium and whisk vigorously for 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.
  6. Whisk in the vanilla. Transfer the pudding to a shallow container (such as an 8-inch baking dish) and spread it evenly, then press plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
  7. Whisk vigorously to loosen the pudding before serving.

Graham Crumb

  1. Preheat oven to 250°F.
  2. In a large ziploc bag combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar, milk powder, salt and butter and toss to combine evenly.
  3. Spread evenly onto a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment.  Bake for 20 minutes.
  4. Let cool completely before using or storing in an airtight container.

Assembly

  1. Spoon some graham crumb into the bottom of your dish.  Follow with some pudding, then some marshmallow cream.  Repeat these layers again.  Repeat with all the dishes.
  2. Preheat the broiler.
  3. Place the dishes on a baking sheet and broil the tops until nice and golden brown, 30 seconds to 1 minute depending on your oven.
  4. Serve or chill for a couple of hours up to a couple of days.