Pa’s Chocolate Pie was well known, as were all of his recipes chosen for this book—not just with this family but anyone who got a taste. Lots of times though, after supper, almost as an afterthought, he would make just the pudding (doubling the recipe), pour ample servings into cereal bowls, and let everybody dig in without the formality of a crust or meringue topping. Kim liked it right out of the pan as hot as it could be. Shalon liked let hers cool until it formed a “skin” and ate the top first. Peri liked it lukewarm.
We’ve all learned to cook it because to make it is to remember him at his best—his funniest, his most obnoxious, his very best at being a doting, loving father.
It is important to note all the eggs Pa used were jumbo, and nothing else will do!
Thanksgiving at Shalon’s house probably in the 1980’s. Here, Pa formally poses for the camera, a piece of turkey halfway in his mouth. Silly Pa!
4 cups milk
4 jumbo eggs, beaten
1 cup sugar
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
8 tablespoons cornstarch
In a saucepan, combine milk and sugar. Heat on medium. Blend the chocolate in just enough warm water to dissolve and add the beaten eggs. Blend cornstarch in just enough cold water to dissolve and mix with the cocoa and egg mixture. (This prevents your having lumps or scrambled eggs in the pudding!) Gradually pour the cocoa mixture into the heated milk. Add the vanilla. Stir constantly, until thickened. If it should become lumpy, try beating it with a mixer.
Desserts, 2001