The Return of the Puddin' Pop

Raise your hand if you remember the frozen pudding pops. Raise your hand if you thought they were freakin' AWESOME. maybe I'm the only one with my hand in the air (or for that matter both hands in the air), but you're probably not raising your hand because you:
1. think it's silly to raise your hand while reading a blog
2. never had a pudding pop
3. don't have taste buds

Seriously people. pudding pops, or for that matter, the chocolate pudding pops, were one of the best things I remember eating when I was younger. I loved that crispy icy exterior and then the bite of the cold on your teeth, but still the soft texture as you bit into it. I used to slowly lick off all the icy exterior to get to the pudding goodness on the inside, savoring each and every lick.

So I recently re-purchased an ice cream maker (if I haven't told you the story of the first one that broke, it's a good one, but let's just say my freezer was covered in blue anti-freeze as the bowl oozed from a crack in the seam). with a new kitchen, a recent trip to Italy (and therefore a renewed obsession with gelato) and a Williams-Sonoma gift certificate, I felt it the perfect time for a new ice cream maker.

I hooked it up nearly immediately after the first bowl was frozen, and made a mediocre vanilla ice cream. I then remembered my frustration trying to make a fabulous gelato in the past, and I never quite got there without using all heavy whipping cream. I then decided to flip through the instruction manual (we were going to make margaritas, so I wanted to see if it had any hints). I stumbled upon some recipes, which all looked fairly typical until I flipped the page to "Chocolate Pudding Ice Cream." Could it be? Could it be like my cherished pudding pops? I remained very very skeptical.

Living in a "paperless" household, I threw away the manual assuming it would be online. so today I came home with my packet of instant chocolate pudding (I think it's the first time I've ever bought instant pudding) and hopped online to find the recipe. unfortunately cuisinart decided that it didn't need to post the manual online, but did have five select recipes which didn't include the pudding recipe. All I could remember was that it called for milk and a package of chocolate pudding.

so putting google to good use I searched for a chocolate pudding ice cream recipe. unfortunately I came up with junk. a lot of extra sugar, eggs, and other things that I don't remember in the original. so, I decided to wing it. I didn't know how much milk to add, but since most recipes had 3 cups of some combination of milk and cream, I just put in 3 cups of milk and mixed in the pudding package. I threw it in the ice cream maker and set it to work.

20 minutes later I ventured a taste. my school days on the playground came rushing back to me immediately. success! pudding pop ice cream! and it wasn't even done churning yet. I tried to let it go longer but I kept eating it. finally, I pried myself away and put it in the freezer for a bit, but I've already probably eaten half of the batch. it is delicious. probably not perfect, but next time I'm going to freeze it in an ice cube tray for a real pudding pop like experience. and it's still unbelievable that there were 2 ingredients. TWO!

ooh, the pudding pop goodness will definitely be an obsession of mine for the time being. I may even try another pudding flavor. I don't think it'll be as good, but I've got two freezer bowls, so I can go back-to-back rounds.

so here's the recipe. I still can't believe it. I'm in pudding pop heaven:
Chocolate Pudding Ice Cream
3 cups of milk (or any combination of milk and cream)
1 package of instant pudding

whisk the pudding into cold milk. prepare ice cream according to the manufacturers instructions on your ice cream maker.

eat pudding pops and love life a little more.