Have Some Insulin Ready...

For years my Grandmother has made this awesome banana pudding.  She taught me how to make it and for a long time now as I've stood over the saucepan, constantly stirring to make sure the mixture didn't stick on the bottom, I've let my mind wander to what other variations could be made off of the basic recipe.

It's just a vanilla custard of sugar, flour, egg yolks, milk and margarine.  It doesn't become "banana" pudding until I pour it over the sliced bananas and vanilla wafers in the baking dish. Hmmmm....

A couple of weeks ago, my friends TJ and Kayla Brown were visiting and I made shepherd's pie for supper.  Afterward, Kayla helped me make a banana pudding for dessert.  As she worked on the meringue and I tended the custard, I shared with her my idea of making something new.  We brainstormed about all kinds of possibilities, but ultimately kept coming back to the idea of turning the regular custard into a chocolate one.

There is a festival coming up next weekend, and I've invited them back to visit again.  I thought it would be wonderful if I could experiment with the recipe and, if I hit on a winner, present it to them for dessert when they come over.

After scouring Allrecipes.com to find the ratios for a chocolate custard (I knew I wasn't the first person to think of all this), I put together what I thought would be the ultimate chocolate dessert recipe.  I didn't get to try it until early this afternoon, but when I got the opportunity, I went straight to work on it.
 Oh. My. Goodness.

It is super sweet.  (Like, "hear-your-teeth-rot" kind of sweet!)  It is super chocolatey.  It is SUPER GOOD!!!

Of course I am too generous to keep something like this all to myself!  Here are some photos, followed by the recipe itself.  Enjoy!*

Ingredients:

(Custard)

3 egg yolks

1 ½ cups sugar

4 Tbs self-rising flour

2 Tbs cocoa

1 ½ cups milk

2 Tbs butter or margarine

(Meringue)

3 egg whites

½ cup sugar

¼ tsp cocoa

Approx half a package of chocolate creame Oreos. (We used Kroger brand “Chocolate Lover’s Kiddos”)

Directions:

Line the bottom of an 8x8 square glass baking dish with chocolate creme Oreos.

For custard: In a medium sauce pan, stir together sugar, flour and cocoa.  In small bowl, beat egg yolks and milk together.  Stir beaten egg and milk in with dry mixture.  Over medium heat, stir constantly, breaking up any lumps, until sauce begins to thicken. (Take special care that it doesn’t stick/scorch on the bottom!)  Stir in butter/margarine until melted.  Continue stirring until custard is a medium thick consistency.

Pour custard over the Oreos and let sit while meringue is being made.

For meringue: Preheat oven to 350°.  In large mixing bowl, mix ½ cup sugar with ½ tsp cocoa.  With electric mixer, whip egg whites with dry mixture until stiff peaks form.  

Pour meringue over custard and spread evenly until all sides are sealed.  Bake until top of meringue is golden brown.  

Serve warm, or let cool and refrigerate for 1 hour and serve cold.  Keep any left overs refrigerated.

*I'm completely serious about how rich this thing is.  If your family finds you dead on the kitchen floor, it is NOT my fault!