Hot Chocolate Pudding -- One Way to Use Up Hot Chocolate Packets

     Last year, I put all our hot chocolate packets in a ziploc bag and put them in the freezer.  One thing is guaranteed:  If you put hot chocolate in the freezer, no one will drink it because they won't remember it is there! I have somehow ended up with WAY too much hot chocolate.
     Yesterday, I decided it was time to use up all those little packets.  It's too hot in Houston to drink hot chocolate in October, sadly, so I did some online searching to try to discover other ways to use it up.  For whatever reason, I thought it would be cool to make pudding out of it.  I couldn't find a recipe so I made one up, and well, it passed the Mullin boys' taste test so here it is.

Jenny's Homemade Hot Chocolate Pudding

5 packets of hot chocolate (I used Swiss Miss Dark Chocolate Sensations)
4 heaping tblsp. All Purpose Flour
dash of salt
2 cups milk (I used 1 cup whole, 1 cup 1%)
1 tblsp. butter
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix hot chocolate powder, flour, and salt in a saucepan.  Over medium heat, whisk in milk.  Stir continually (about 12-15 minutes) over medium heat with whisk or spoon.  When thickened, stir for 2 or 3 minutes longer and then remove from heat.  Whisk in butter and vanilla.  Pour into little bowls (or one big one), cover with plastic wrap with the wrap touching the pudding to keep a hard "crust/skin" from forming on top, and chill.

     Easy!  No added sugar.  Delicious!  I doubled the recipe and added crushed Oreos on top for lunch at church and came home with an empty bowl!  I see lots of pudding in our future.  Yep, we have lots of hot chocolate packets in the freezer!