Chocolate Almond Tapioca Pudding (slow Cooker)

Total Time: 4 hrs 10 mins Preparation Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 4 hrs

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 2 quarts 1% low-fat milk
• 3/4-1 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup small pearl tapioca, not instant
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder

Recipe

• 1 use a 4 qt slow cooker. combine the milk, sugar and tapioca in the insert. stir well to mix.
• 2 cover and cook on high for two to three hours. it will still be soupy at this point.
• 3 in a medium or large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, almond extract, and cocoa powder.
• 4 remove 1/2 cup of the hot tapioca/milk mix from the crockpot, and stir into the eggs, whisking all the time. a standard ladle is 1/2 cup. add another 1/2 cup of the hot mix, whisk thoroughly, and then another 1/2 cup. this tempers the eggs, so that they don't turn into scrambled eggs.
• 5 pour the egg mixture into the slow cooker and stir very thoroughly to combine.
• 6 cover and cook on high for 30 minutes to one hour, or until the tapioca has begun to swell and thicken.
• 7 turn off the slow cooker, remove the lid and let this stand an hour to thicken further. remove to a large bowl, cover with plastic pushing the plastic against the tapioca (to prevent a skin from forming), and chill.
• 8 note1: i used seed tapioca, about the size of sesame seeds. i will try this using a couple of tablespoons less, to get a slightly looser consistency, although it was just fine the way it was.
• 9 note2: i used 2% milk, as that was what i had. i also used only 3/4 cup sugar - the original recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups, and that would have been much too sweet for me. i might double the amount of cocoa powder next time.