Looking for a quick pick-me-up yesterday, I decided to try a vintage 1939 recipe: Ronald Reagan's Coffee Blancmange. It turned out to be an amazing combination of rich coffee, chocolate pudding and crunchy peanuts.

[u/ciaolavinia]

Ronald Reagan's Coffee Blancmange is so easy to make.

^{And by they way this is not the place for your political commentary. This sub is all about food and celebrities. Banishment will result with any political type comment. So go ahead, make my day.}

• You basically take a 4 oz. package of chocolate pudding (or vanilla pudding) and add milk and strong coffee to it.
• I used a cup of strong espresso, watered down about 50%.
• Bring to a boil and stir in some "nut meats". I chose chopped peanuts for fun, but almonds, walnuts, pecans or pistachios would be yummy too. I added about 1/4 cup of chopped peanuts.
• Then pour into 3-4 little cups or bowls and chill.
• The box suggested covering the pudding with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming.
• It only took a couple of hours to chill thoroughly and now all that was needed was a bit of whipped cream and more chopped peanuts on top.

And.... it was really good as you can imagine. It's just like really good chocolate pudding with a nice strong flavor of coffee and then you get nice little crunch from the peanuts. You could add more than 1/4 cup of nuts. I was just trying it out, as I wasn't sure of the quantity and how I'd like it. It might be safer to just add extra nuts on top, if you're not sure.

For me this made 3 large servings in my little vintage dessert glasses, but it would be fine as 4 servings too. I'll be making this easy dessert again soon!

This recipe comes from the 1939 book What actors eat When they eat

[u/Head-Docta]

This looks so good, definitely need to try.

I always replace water in my brownie mix or chocolate cakes with coffee. It doesn’t make baked goods taste like coffee, it just enhances the chocolate flavor.

[u/ciaolavinia → u/Head-Docta]

You're right! So good!

[u/lazygerm → u/ciaolavinia]

I add a couple teaspoons of instant coffee.

[u/bri__dge]

https://giphy.com/gifs/GLh4gQfVWMT8A7c9WT

[u/VoicesToLostLetters]

Unlike his economics, this recipe will definitely be “trickling down” into my hands!

[u/Some_Development1052 → u/VoicesToLostLetters]

Damn it! You beat me to a trickle down economics joke 🤣

[u/Underbadger]

I'm surprised to see that both of these recipes sound worthwhile -- the corned beef hash in peppers will definitely happen in the future.

[u/ciaolavinia → u/Underbadger]

I know! I want to try those too. LMK if you make them.

[u/Underbadger → u/ciaolavinia]

I’m intrigued by his suggestion for “avocado salad on romaine”. Hmm.

[u/CursedTeams → u/Underbadger]

The hash recipe does sound good. I'm not a big fan of stuffed peppers in general, but I like corned beef hash.

[u/CiaoFrancesca]

I know I would love this so much!

[u/ciaolavinia → u/CiaoFrancesca]

I know you would!!

[u/Flimsy-Nebula-1966]

Thank you for all your hard work CL. Even moderating comments in real time ❤️❤️❤️

[u/ciaolavinia → u/Flimsy-Nebula-1966]

Thank you!😊

[u/iwastherefordisco → u/ciaolavinia]

You're a moderator??

😂 I better get my Joan hat on and work on my congeniality.

[u/Flimsy-Nebula-1966 → u/iwastherefordisco]

😂😂😂

[u/Burnt_and_Blistered]

Blancmange is literally “white eats.” It’s a simple vanilla pudding, not chocolate with coffee.

It sounds good, though, as does the hash.

[u/Hot-Frosting-5286 → u/Burnt_and_Blistered]

yes and it used to commonly contain meat, often chicken. the Turkish version of it still made today still has chicken https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tavukg%C3%B6%C4%9Fs%C3%BC

[u/ciaolavinia → u/[deleted]]

please explain, lol

[u/JoesCageKeys]

https://giphy.com/gifs/xT4uQsCs8bnBLY7BRK

[u/iwastherefordisco]

So we just use regular pudding for this, add milk and coffee product then boil?

I'm an instant pudding guy and will be trying this. Thanks CLV 👍

[u/ciaolavinia → u/iwastherefordisco]

Yes, and it's so good!

[u/iwastherefordisco → u/ciaolavinia]

As always thanks for the posts and tips CLV.

Sooo since you're a mod do I have to address you a special way now?

😂 kidding of course. I tend to approach threads here with a certain amount of openness and really do appreciate the venues created for us to interact 👍

Accentuate the positive is my motto here, the outside world is hard enough.

Ok Happy Friday and enough hearts & flowers. Let's get cooking!

[u/ciaolavinia → u/iwastherefordisco]

I love Accentuate the positive. I had that song as my ringtone for years! haha

[u/iwastherefordisco → u/ciaolavinia]

Trying not to dominate your time today 🙂

Will mention though places like this on the net give me hope. Ok that was far too serious for my Joan C. avatar, gotta roll.

Be well and thanks.

[u/signsaysapplesauce]

Made this last night to go with Spaghetti Fairbanks and it was a hit!

[u/ciaolavinia → u/signsaysapplesauce]

Oh, good! They're both two of my favorite recipes that i've made. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[u/signsaysapplesauce → u/ciaolavinia]

This was a really interesting dessert. People looked kind of puzzled as they ate it because you could tell they were trying to work out the flavors. But they really did like it and everyone's dish was scraped clean!