Déjà vu All Over Again

In junior high we were required to take Home Economics - one semester of sewing and one of cooking. The boys were required to take shop, which I would have loved to take as well but girls were not allowed; boys couldn't take Home Ec either. 

We've come a  l-o-n-g  way, baby! 

     

Case in point - my senior year I participated in a sit-in as a protest that girls could not wear pants to school - not even nice pant suits, which were very popular then. We had to wear skirts or dresses with hems no more than 1 inch above the knee (and yes, we would have to kneel down and be measured if there was any question), and stockings or hose. Of course, the day of the sit-in was one of the last days of the school year, and we were pretty sure there wouldn't be any repercussions. I think it was still a few more years before slacks were allowed - jeans, at least another decade!

But I digress.

I loved walking into the big room where we had our cooking classes at Valley Jr. High. It was a room with separate kitchens set up, each with a range, sink, cabinets and table. We were divided into groups of 3-4 and assigned our station. We would all meet together for a lesson on what we would cook that day and received very specific instructions on how we were to do it. Everything was to be carefully measured and stirred, cooked, baked, appraised and graded, cleaned up, and then we were able to eat what we had made. It was a little weird eating Cream of Wheat at 2pm, but everything else was OK.  My favorite lesson was the one on blancmange pudding. Mmmmmm, yummmmmm! 

After that lesson my friend Debbie and I went to her home every day and made a big pot of it and ate it before anybody else came home. My family was happy when I made some and actually shared it with them.  I'm forever spoiled, and will never, ever think Jello pudding is good enough (sorry, Bill Cosby).

This is the information I pulled up on blancmange since I don't think too many people know what it is anymore:   
The term blancmange is derived from the Middle English blankmanger, from Old French blanc mangier : blanc, white (of Germanic origin) + mangier, to eat, food (from Latin manducare). Several medieval recipes for blancmange have survived, and the dish is mentioned in the prologue to Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

Of course, I never made the plain vanilla stuff, only the chocolate variety, which would not really be blancmange I guess.

I can't remember how long it has been since I made up a pot of blancmange....at least 10 years or more. I'm not even sure my children have any memory of having it. I think I haven't trusted myself to make it because I would probably start  making it and eating it secretly on a daily basis again. But when I saw this recipe in a magazine billed as a "good-for-you chocolate treat" I threw caution to the wind and immediately whipped it up - after I went to the store for the chocolate & coffee...


Mocha-Cinnamon Pudding

1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons instant coffee mix (I used decaffinated Folger's)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
2 cups lowfat chocolate milk
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, very finely chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Whisk the sugar, cornstarch, coffee, cinnamon, and salt in a large saucepan. Whisk in milk over medium heat, then cook for about five minutes, stirring occasionally at first, then frequently, and constantly at the end, until mixture thickens to pudding consistency. Remove from heat; add chocolate and vanilla, whisking until chocolate is smooth. Serve warm or pour into bowl or 5 individual serving bowls, placing plastic wrap directly on pudding surface to keep a skin from forming. Refrigerate up to five days.

It was very easy to make, I think easier than I remember the blancmange being, because you don't have to bring it to a boil and stir it for a period of time. The texture was really smooth and nice, but I think the cinnamon and DECAFFINATED coffee (breathe, Brei!) flavors just got in the way.

Tomorrow I'll be making a plain Jane version. Maybe or maybe not I will share with Keven & Kris.

Nice enough to look at twice