Today I made some rich creamy vegan chocolate pudding. I couldn’t wait to post this decadent and simple dessert. These pudding cups are so good!

Canadians, you might remember packing those Laura Secord pudding cups in your school lunch. Laura Secord is Canada’s largest chocolatier. It’s known for its wide variety of premium-quality chocolates throughout Canada. These cups remind me of Laura Secord chocolate pudding, but without the added sugar and dairy.

These puddings can be made in five steps. Here’s the recipe:

Creamy Vegan Chocolate Pudding

Level: Easy

Makes 6 cups

Ingredients

• Oat cream: 1½ cups organic oat milk + ½ cup raw cashews (makes a full 2 cups cream).
• 6 medjool dates, pitted and softened for a few minutes in warm water (strain water after).
• ¼ cup pure unsweetened cacao powder (or cocoa powder, if you prefer).
• 3 tablespoons (tbsp) pure maple syrup.
• ¼ teaspoon (tsp) vanilla powder (or 1 tsp liquid vanilla extract).
• 1 tbsp arrow-root powder (thickener).

Procedure

1. Put raw cashews in a small bowl and cover them with water. Cover bowl and heat on high in microwave for 2 minutes. This will soften the cashews. Strain water and pour cashews in the oat milk. Pour this in a blender and whizz on high until smooth.

2. In medium saucepan over medium heat, add the oat cream and dates. Stir with wooden spoon and bring to a boil. Reduce heat.

3. Add the cacao powder and stir well until blended. Add maple syrup, vanilla and stir. Mix all with an electric handheld blender until smooth. Then, continue simmering and stirring with spoon for 5 minutes until thick.

4. Take off heat. Add the arrow-root powder, a little at a time whilst stirring so it doesn’t clump up. Stir or whisk well.

5. Pour into small cups or ramekins. Let cups cool outside fridge for about 10 minutes and then chill in fridge until fully set, at least two hours. Serve as is or top with fresh fruit or a dollop of whipped coconut cream or dairy cream if you are not vegan. Store cups in fridge.

Coconut whipped cream

If you want to serve with coconut cream, this is very easy to make. For best results, put a small mixing bowl, beaters and your coconut cream in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.

When chilled, whip together with a small electric hand-held beater (not the big standup kind) for about one minute or so until soft peaks form the following ingredients:

• 1/2 or 1 small container of pure (no additives), thick coconut cream. If you have the type that separates, then  scoop out the cream at the top and not the liquid that is at the bottom. It has to be very thick cream.
• sweeten with 2-4 tbsps maple syrup or honey or confectioner’s sugar (add more to taste)
• 1 tsp lemon juice (option)

Note: if the coconut cream is supper thick, just add a small amount of almond or nut milk while beating.

Keep leftover coconut cream (or dairy cream) stored in covered container in fridge and add a dollop on each cup just before serving.