Slowly pour the eggs into the saucepan with the hot mixture, whisking it all the while.

Return the saucepan to the heat and stir for 2 to 3 minutes, until the mixture is very thick.

Remove the saucepan from the heat (you can turn off the burner this time). Add the vanilla, stirring it in quickly. Add the ounce of butter and stir it in until it’s melted.

Let the mixture cool and use it to fill your cream puffs, or pour it into bowls while it’s hot, chill it in the refrigerator, and serve it with a little sweetened whipped cream for a lovely dessert.

Yield: 4 servings of pudding, or filling for 6 to 8 cream puffs.

GREAT-GRANDMA’S CHOCOLATE PUDDING

2 cups whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup white (granulated) sugar

4 squares unsweetened chocolate (I used Baker’s)

9 egg yolks, beaten

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 ounces butter

Separate 9 eggs into whites and yolks. If you plan to make Angel Kisses Cookies or Angel Pillows Cookies with the whites, save them in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator. (Each recipe calls for 3 egg whites so you can make a triple batch of either one.) Beat the yolks and set them aside.

Combine the milk, cream, and sugar in a heavy saucepan off the heat. Unwrap 4 squares of unsweetened chocolate, break them into two parts at the indentation, and add them to your saucepan. (Breaking them up causes them to melt faster.)

Heat the mixture over medium high heat on the stove, stirring constantly until little whiffs of steam start to escape and you think it’s about to boil.

Pull the saucepan from the heat, but don’t turn off the burner. This next step will take only a moment or two.

Give the beaten egg yolks a final stir, and add approximately 2 Tablespoons of the chocolate mixture to the egg yolks, stirring it in quickly. (This is called tempering, and it’s important—without it you could have pudding with scrambled eggs inside.)

Off the heat, slowly pour the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture in the saucepan, stirring all the while. When it’s incorporated, put the saucepan back on the heat.

Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a full boil. (This took about 3 minutes for me on my stove.) Pull the saucepan off the heat, and this time you can turn off the burner.

Quickly stir in the vanilla. Then stir in the butter and continue to stir until the butter is melted.

Let the pudding cool and use it to fill cream puffs, or…

Pour the pudding into 8 bowls and cool in the refrigerator. Top with sweetened whipped cream and serve it for a delicious dessert, or…

Pour the pudding into a cookie crumb, shortbread crumb, or graham cracker crumb pie shell. (You can buy them already prepared at the store if you don’t want to make your own.) Chill and top with sweetened whipped cream for dessert.