Thick Chocolate Pudding

This is delicious and chocolatey, like a good hot chocolate. Very quick and easy. And I love that it's not too sweet. The first time I made this (in the microwave), I did encounter some lumps. I only needed 2 minutes in step 4 for an 1100 watt microwave. The second time I made this, I used the stove, and had no lump problems. I also decided to turn it into a mocha pudding - which was awesome! I added two tablespoons of instant coffee, plus one extra tablespoon of sugar.

Ok, a summary of things people have done:
adding instant coffee; adding some chocolate chips; stirring in a large tbsp of PB until blended;
changing up for other types of milk, including almond and soy; varying the amount of vanilla; subbing splenda and sucanant etc for sugar; cooking on stove -- bring milk to warm and then whisk in all of the other ingredients that have been pre-mixed together; make sure and cook to a full boil with cornstarch to remove the starch taste; adding coconut, roasted nuts, serve with whipped cream on top,.... Lots of variation to have with this great recipe. Prepackage it so it is ready for kids to do instead of purchased packages. ENJOY!!

This reminded me of my mother's chocolate pudding she made us when we were young! My teens devoured it. Use the stovetop not microwave. Anyone used it to make a chocolate pie? That sounds so good!

Tweaked a bit by using whole milk instead of skim, and 3 Tbsp. flour instead of cornstarch. Also made on the stove top, stirring constantly with a wire whisk for about 15 minutes. Refrigerated for two hours. Delicious. I disagree with other reviewers that say this isn't sweet enough as is. I would add slightly more vanilla, but only b/c vanilla makes everything better!! Thanks for posting.

My husband and I really enjoyed this. Because he is a diabetic, I made it with Splenda. This doubles nicely. I added 1/4 c. choc. chips as I always do with the packaged mixes. I will not be buying them anymore now thanks to your wonderful recipe! Thanks so much! BTW, I made this on top of the stove by first sifting dry ingredients into the pan, then slowly adding milk to make a smooth paste before adding all the milk. I brought it to a boil and then removed it from the heat after 30 seconds or so.