A giant bowl of salted chocolate pudding

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HAM PARTY season is upon us. If you have any questions about yours or how to throw one, you can check out this newsletter, watch this video, or leave a comment here and I'll get back to you.

One question I hear a lot is “is dessert necessary, if so, what should I make?”. I have the answer. No, it’s not necessary. But neither is making a giant 15-pound ham for 6 people and ordering 84 mustards online and making a topiary out of buns just for your own personal pleasure. But dessert is fun and we deserve that. So this year, it’s Salted Chocolate Pudding.

It’s chocolate pudding so you already know what to expect (your basic milk-based, lightly sweetened, cornstarch thickened pudding, there is also lots of chocolate), but I will also say this specific recipe is: easy (truly) to make and the exact perfect thing to either serve at your own party or bring to someone else's when you’re inevitably asked to “bring a dessert” because wow- can you make this ahead or WHAT. It’s rich and silky, deeply chocolately, lightly salty and perhaps just might be the best chocolate pudding cup you’ve ever had.

I like to serve it out of a giant bowl topped with either lightly sweetened full-fat Greek yogurt/labne, or unsweetened whipped cream laced with sour cream– either way, topped with Maldon salt and served with many tiny spoons (also great divided among tiny little cups to pass out to people, who will be thrilled to receive your tiny cup of pudding). These coups are what I use every year for my parties when serving small desserts like this and also martinis/wine. Top with crumbly cookies or something, though it is a nice naturally gluten-free dessert (something to consider). While it seems a TOUCH too whimsical for me, the holiday spirit is really coming for me this year and maybe topping it with some crushed candy canes or peppermint bark *sent with invisible ink* would be sweet.

I know you’ll ask, but this pudding is nearly all dairy (quite literally couldn’t be made without it), more specifically, milk. So I can’t vouch