A kinder, gentler chocolate tofu pudding with lavender

Or, at least a lower calorie one.  A few years ago I posted a chocolate tofu pudding based on one published by Mark Bittman.  His was seasoned with chili and cinnamon.  I used lavender instead since I consider chocolate and lavender to be one of the great taste combinations.  While this is a great dessert in its own right, it is by no means slenderizing.  I have been following Weight Watchers for the past few months (with some success, I might add, not that anyone asked)  and the original recipe clocked in at a pretty hefty 9 PointsPlus (the controversial new WW points system) per serving. While no chocolate mousse or cheesecake, it is still over 25% of my points allowance per day, and could be nearly 50% for some women (God being a man in matters of weight loss).

The Weight Watchers site had an adaptation of the recipe that cut down on the sugar and substitute cocoa powder for some of the chocolate, cutting the serving cost to 4 PointsPlus if you serve it in appropriate portin sizes. I tweaked the recipe further to work in lavender, and here is my

Lower-cal chocolate tofu pudding with lavender

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons dried lavender buds
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 pound silken tofu
• 2-3 ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate (I like Scharffenberger's, which is pareve)

 Method:

• Make a lavender infusion:  Bring the water to a boil in a small pot, and add the lavender buds.  Boil rapidly for a minute and then let them cool as if you were making a tea.
• Mix the cocoa and sugar in a bowl.  Strain the lavender infusion into the bowl, drizzling it in slowly until you have a paste, as if you were making hot cocoa.
• Bring the mixture to a boil and cook for about a minute on low, stirring so that it doesn't scorch.
• Puree the tofu in a blender.
• Add the cocoa mixture and puree again.
• Melt the chocolate either in a double boiler or in the microwave.  If doing it in the microwave, melt it in 20 second increments, stirring in between, so that it doesn't scorch.
• Add chocolate to the mixture in the blender and blend again.
• Pour into a single glass serving dish or into individual serving dishes and chill.  It cools and sets much more quickly in individual portions.  Wine glasses are especially nice.  Top with a coarse sea salt, ideally Maldon, before serving.
• Makes 6-7 servings.

Varying the spices:  Next time I am going to try this iwith an infusino of Sichuan peppeprcorns.  I will keep you posted.