Mark Bittman's Chocolate Tofu pudding

[zoe b]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/dining/2...html?ref=dining

anyone else made it yet? any thoughts?

I made it yesterday--it was extremely easy--more time in clean up than prep--it got nice & firm very quickly--the texture was good--not like pudding, but smooth and rich feeling.

It's very sweet, and ,the hub and I both think, has too much chocolate ( never thought I'd say that).

I'm thinking of different tweaks--using strong coffee for the water, definitely less chili powder as it was too hot--although this may be just my chili powder.

From what I've read, getting rid of the soy and bland taste is the goal in tofu pudding.

I think a coffee and less chocolate one could be good, also brown sugar might be a good flavor--of course then you'd probably need to sub something for the fat in the chocolate.

Zoe

[tmriga]

Try subbing some ground pasilla for some of the chili powder. I switched from using ground ancho to ground pasilla in my chocolate chili cupcakes. Both are low Scoville, but pasilla has a brighter, more prominent flavor, without the heat. It tickles my salivary glands more, too.

Theresa

[tammylc]

A friend of mine has been making chocolate tofu pie for years - basically the same kind of recipe, but uses honey in place of the sugar syrup. I just recently dug the recipe out for another friend, whose discovered that she's allergic to wheat, dairy and eggs, and is desperately craving anything dessert-like.

I found a recipe in a book that uses raspberries in place of the chocolate to make a raspberry pudding.

[tammylc]

i was thinking about how to make a caramel variant (that's dairy free). Thoughts - make a caramel syrup to puree into the tofu. If the added fat from the chocolate is important, melted cocoa butter would presumably work...

Edited May 18, 2009 by tammylc (log)

[KKLL00b]

I use a similar recipe to make vegan truffles and adjusted the amount of tofu and other liquids like coconut, soy, rice, almond, or hazelnut milk to make mousses, gelees, panna cottas, etc. I use agar agar powder in place of gelatin when I need a gelling agent.

I've made various flavor variations including earl grey tea, green tea, lavender, lemongrass, ginger, and mint. One of the surprisingly good ones was a "Mexican chocolate" version using cinnamon, Kona coffee, ancho, and chipotle peppers with a smidge of cumin thrown in. I just winged it and kept adding ingredients until I got the flavor balance to my taste. Unfortunately, this was one of the few times I did not record the amounts I used so when I do this again, I'll make sure to write everything down.

I've also tried alternative sweeteners like maltitol, sucralose, erythritol, and agave syrup, but I prefer the taste and texture of plain old sucrose or honey. I plan to use stevia when I get some samples from a friend.

My vegan friends really like the vegan versions and my diabetic friends like my sugar-free, no-sugar-added, or low-sugar versions.

[zoe b]

I plan to use stevia when I get some samples from a friend.

←

I just tried 2 different iced teas sweetened with stevia--I found it artificial tasting--not like sugar or honey at all-- if you can't have sugar it would be acceptable--it at least doesn't have the aftertaste of artificial sweeteners .

[jgm]

My husband is diabetic, and I'd like to try this recipe with Splenda instead of the sugar syrup. I assume Bittman is making the syrup to make sure the sugar is completely dissolved in the pudding mixture.

Does the syrup serve any function other than that? Will this recipe still work with Splenda?

Jenny

[Emily_R]

I tried a very similar recipe that was labeled as tofu "chocolate mousse" and... Blech. The version I tried was too sweet as well, and to me it just sat in my stomach like a hunk of lead. My husband and I started to joke about it, calling it a "meal replacement," because once he had a cup he didn't need to eat for the rest of the day. It does make more sense billed as a pudding than am mousse, since there was none of the true air-pocket mousse lightness in it...

[mgaretz]

If you are looking for something with no sugar, no carbs, no milk products, no soy and very low fat (it all comes from the chocolate) try my chocolate mousse recipe:

This recipe makes a very rich tasting but light textured chocolate mousse that is almost sin free. People can’t believe it’s zero carb, has no milk products, zero cholesterol and very low in fat (about 10 grams per serving). This recipe was adapted from several of Alice Medritch’s excellent chocolate mousse recipes. If you’re a fan of chocolate desserts, you need to get her books Bittersweet and Chocolate and the Art of Low Fat Desserts. I combined the basic mousse recipes from Bittersweet with some of the low fat ideas from the other book. I modified the basic mousse recipes to make them easier to make and to eliminate the carbs (they were already lactose-free).

Ingredients:

1 Bar (3.6 ozs) Carb Safe Dark Chocolate (from Trader Joe’s)

4 squares (2 ozs) of Trader Joe’s 100% Belgian Baking Chocolate

¼ cup Splenda (or sugar)

1 tsp Instant Espresso powder

8 ozs of liquid egg substitute (see notes)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 pkg (approx 3 tsp) plain unflavored gelatin

1/3 cup of cold water

Put the cold water in a pyrex measuring cup or similar heat-proof container. Gently sprinkle the gelatin over the water and let sit for 4 minutes. Do not stir. Place the cup in the microwave and heat for 1 minute on 50% power. Stir the gelatin and check to see if it is fully dissolved – check carefully. If not, heat the water for 30 seconds at time on 50% power and stir and check again. Repeat until it is dissolved but it’s important not to overheat or boil the gelatin. Once the gelatin is dissolved, stir in the espresso powder until dissolved and the vanilla. Set aside.

Put the chocolate into a large pyrex or similar heatproof bowl. I use the large pyrex mixing or batter bowl since I will use the spout later. Heat in the microwave for about three minutes at 50% power – the chocolate will start to soften considerably. Add the gelatin mix to the chocolate and heat for one more minute on 50% power. (You may have to adjust these times based on your microwave.) The idea is to get the chocolate pretty well melted without overheating it. Stir with a spatula until you have a nice, homogeneous mixture – this is critical – there can’t be any small lumps of chocolate.

While you are heating the chocolate, put the egg substitute and Splenda into the bowl of your stand mixer with a whisk attachment and beat on high until medium firm peaks form. This usually takes two to three minutes.

Take about 1/3 of the eggs and fold them into the bowl with chocolate until fairly well mixed. Fold in the rest of the eggs until you have a nice even color.

Pour the mixture into six 6 oz ramekins or any other dessert containers you wish. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 4 hours.

These will last about 4-5 days in the fridge.

With judicious overlapping of the steps, I can make this dessert from start to cleanup in about 20 minutes.

Notes:

Alice’s recipes call for using real eggs, but you have to slowly bring them up to 160 degrees (in order to pasteurize them) while constantly stirring to keep the eggs from scrambling. This was too much effort. First I discovered that you can buy pasteurized eggs, but they are very expensive. Now I use egg substitute as it’s much cheaper (at least when you get it at Costco), it’s already pasteurized and it’s fat and cholesterol free. Important: Egg Beaters brand doesn’t whip up (at least not without adding 1-2 tsp of xanthan gum). You’ll have to try various brands until you find one that whips – the Costco brand whips up like a champ!

Variations:

I like the taste of peanuts with chocolate so I have made this with 1 bar of the Carb Safe chocolate and 1/4 cup of creamy peanut butter eliminating the baking chocolate. I also like to add in 1/2 tsp of banana flavor for a chocolate-peanut butter-banana mousse – yummy! I’ve also experimented with adding about 1/2 tsp of Chinese 5 Spice Powder or 1/2 tsp of cardamom powder – also tasty. I’ve also substituted bourbon for the vanilla.

Alice’s recipes also use real chocolate – which I would recommend if you are not on a diet. (However, if I don’t tell people, they never suspect there’s no sugar in this.) You can play with the amount of chocolate vs. sugar – what you end up with depends on what percent cacao you buy and how sweet you like your dessert. Personally I’ve made this with about 7 ozs of 74% cacao content chocolate and not added any extra sweetener (or used the baking chocolate). Some people think that’s too intense, but not me. I used the 100% chocolate to intensify the chocolate flavor (and to lower the fat content).