Cherry Chocolate Pudding Parfaits

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Cherries are starting to appear around here, so I couldn’t resist creating a dessert with them.  Fresh cherries and chocolate are a marriage made in heaven, so this pie seemed perfect! I used Sweet Red and Bing cherries.  Either, or a combination of both, would work.  Don’t use the Red Sour cherries though.  We want cherries that have a sweet and rich taste to go with the chocolate in this recipe.

First we are going to make the cookie crumble.  It’s similar to the chocolate cookie crust we used for this pie.  Put the cookies and sugar in a food processor and mix for about 10 seconds or until the cookies are completely broken up and the mixture resembles coarse sand.

Add the melted butter and pulse 5 or so times until it comes together.  Cover a large plate with parchment paper and dump the cookie mixture onto it. Press the cookie mixture so it’s compressed.  This will create chunks for the parfait.  Put the plate in the fridge to chill.

Now we’re going to make the chocolate pudding.  In a bowl that holds at least 2 cups, mix together the cocoa powder, salt, sugar, and corn starch (don’t make the mistake I did of using a bowl that just barely holds the ingredients because you won’t have room to mix it- whoops).

You can use a small whisk or fork to mix the dry ingredients.  We’re just trying to get rid of any large clumps.

 

Heat the milk in a medium pan over medium heat (lots of mediums around here). Add the dry ingredients that were just mixed together.  Whisk until there are no clumps and the ingredients are all incorporated. Keep on the heat for 4-6 minutes, whisking occasionally.  The mixture should thicken.  Once it boils, take it off the heat.  Add the butter and cream and whisk until the butter is melted.  Now mix in the Kirsch.  If you saw my Shirley Temple post, you’ve heard of Kirsch.  It’s a cherry liqueur and it will pair beautifully with the chocolate in the pudding.  If you would prefer not to use Kirsch, cherry flavoring will work.  Use about 1 teaspoon of that, or leave it out entirely.  Without the flavoring, you’ll just have a more “chocolate forward” flavor.  Pour the pudding into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Make sure to put the plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding.  This will prevent a “skin” from forming.

Now onto the cherry mixture. The cherries need to be pitted and cut in half.  This task it a bit tedious, but can also be sort of soothing.  I actually find the repetitive tasks kind of meditative :).   You can also use frozen cherries in this recipe in a pinch, but they will get mushier than the fresh ones.

Put the cherries, sugar and salt into a shallow pan and heat on medium for about 5 minutes.  We want the sugar to dissolve and for the cherries to release some of their juices.  Turn up the heat to medium-high and lightly simmer until the cherry juice has thickened into a syrup, about 3 minutes. Put the cherries in a bowl and let them cool in the fridge.

Now onto the final component- the whipped cream. Pour the heavy cream into the bowl of a stand mixer or a mixing bowl (if using a hand mixer).  Whip the mixture until soft peaks form.  Add the vanilla and powdered sugar and beat until the whipped cream is stiff and everything is combined.

Now that we’d made all of the separate components, we are ready to assemble our parfaits! All of the components can be kept in the fridge up to a day ahead of time before you assemble the parfaits.

Break off some of the cookie crumble into pieces and put it in the bottom of your parfait glass.  I used some cute glasses I found at Ikea .  Half pint mason jars also work well. I made some of both.  The important thing is to use a clear glass.  We want to see the layers.  Depending on the size of glass or jar you use, this recipe should make 4-8 parfaits.

Top the cookie crumble with a few spoonfuls of pudding, then the cherries (save some of the syrup).  Make sure some of the cherries are pushed to the outer edge of the glass so they can be seen.  Top with more cookie crumbles and pudding.  The final layer will be the whipped cream.  Then drizzle a little of the syrup from the cherries on top.

 

 

Yum!

 

 

Enjoy!