Tales of Xillia: Chocolate Parfait

The spirits are vanishing. Why are the spirits vanishing? War has been threatening the lands for the last few years. Could one of the nations have found a technology that consumes spirits? Why would they resort to such technology? Do they not realize they are slowly destroying the land we live in? Recent rumors have said Rashugal has been developing a weapon called the Lance of Kresnik. A quick investigation in the capital would not hurt. The four will keep me safe, as they always have. As Maxwell, I must stop the humans from destroying the world we live in. This is my duty to the land.

I am pretty eager for the release of Tales of Symphonia Chronicles later this month. What better way for me to show my excitement than to have a “Tales of” recipe extravaganza for the rest of the month. We start with a look at the most recent “Tales of” release. Tales of Xillia was a very different game in terms of gameplay from the others. Our tales playing group consists of four people and one of the core mechanics in Tales of Xillia is the linked-arte system which didn’t play nicely with 4 players. During our play through we avoided linked-artes and I felt we missed a big mechanic of the game. I still enjoyed the experience overall and we managed without them but I wish overlimits weren’t dependent on the links. My husband and I did pick up the game to replay it just to see how crazy the linked-artes were. Unfortunately, we have been side tracked with other games so we haven’t gotten too far in. One thing I really enjoyed in the game and hope they keep this in future titles was the ridiculous accessory customization. Several of the characters in our game looked quite ridiculous.

Not only was the gameplay different but the way food worked was also a bit different. Rather than cooking your own meals, you purchased meals from a merchant. You had to plan when you wanted to eat the food and what foods you wanted to carry with you. While playing I made sure the food vendor was upgraded first. Everyone else would sigh but I was curious what other treats would get unlocked when we invested more money. One of my personal favorite food items was the chocolate parfait. Every time I looked at that picture my mouth would water. Today we will be exploring my rendition of the chocolate parfait! The base of this parfait is going to be a chocolate and vanilla pudding. Sure you can go out and buy a box of pre-made pudding powder but I promise you this recipe is much better.

Required Equipment: sauce pan, bowls, cups, whisk
Servings: 3 large parfaits
Ingredients:
Chocolate Pudding:
2 cups milk
½ cup sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 egg yolks
¼ tsp salt
5 ounce bittersweet chocolate, melted
2 tbsp butter, cut in half

Vanilla Pudding:
2 cups milk
½ cup sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
¼ tsp salt
2 egg yolks
2 tbsp butter, cut in half
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Toppings:
raspberries
banana chips
whipped cream
chocolate syrup
chocolate biscotti (or wafer)
mint leaf

Let’s begin by making the chocolate pudding first. In a bowl combine the egg yolks, ¼ cup sugar, and cornstarch. Whisk in ¼ cup of milk and set the bowl aside.

In a sauce pan, over medium-high heat, whisk together milk, the remaining sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Get the mixture hot enough to right before it would start to boil. Scoop out a ½ cup of the mixture and place it in the bowl with the egg yolks.

Whisk the contents in the bowl. Add another ½ cup of hot milk to it while still whisking. Slowly add the mixture into the sauce pan.

Whisk the pudding base in the saucepan until it thickens. This step should take about five minutes. The first time I tested this recipe it did not look like the pudding base was going to thicken. I got worried and started all over – but trust me just keep on whisking and suddenly it will thicken up nicely. Once the base has thickened, remove it from the heat. Stir in the melted chocolate.

Finally add the butter. Place the pudding into the container you want to serve it in and refrigerate for at least 4 hours and at a max of three days (the pudding starts to separate at that point).

To make the vanilla pudding follow the same instructions as the chocolate pudding, minus adding any of the chocolate. The image above shows the milk heating steps without the chocolate.

The image above shows the vanilla pudding reaching it thickening state. After is has thickened, remove from the heat and add the vanilla extract and butter. Once again, place the pudding into the container you want to serve it in and refrigerate.