We aren’t huge milk drinkers in our house. We usually have almond milk on hand and use that when we eat a (occasional for me, frequent snack for Ryan) bowl of cereal. I’ll buy milk when I need it for a recipe, but more often than not I find myself begging Ryan to finish it off before it expires—part of my sincere attempt to waste as little food as possible! When he’s traveling or have a disproportionate amount of milk to cereal, I take matters into my own hands!

Sometimes excess milk goes towards homemade ice cream, but sometimes I like to change it up and instead opt for pudding! I was all set to make the peanut butter pudding that had been my solution in the past for extra milk when I spied a Ghirardelli dark chocolate bar with almonds. Suddenly a new pudding flavor was created!

Because I used a nutty chocolate bar, there’s some crunch to this pudding. If you’re a texture weirdo (no offense), just use dark chocolate and get all of the almond flavor from the extract. I’m kicking myself for not mixing some shredded coconut into the finished product to make an Almond Joy-esque pudding! (Next time!!!) This homemade pudding was equally good hot and cold, and can be jazzed up however you wish—extra almonds on top, homemade whipped cream, or a sprinkle of chocolate chips. Treats like this tempt my subconscious to pick up milk when I’m at the store simply so I’ll have an excuse to make this again!