Before I met my husband, my go-to desserts were always fruit based. For spring potlucks I would bake up big trays of berry crumble. Late summer meant peach pie with vanilla ice cream. And no Thanksgiving meal was complete without a scoop of apple crisp.

That all changed when Scott and I got together, because fruit just isn't his thing. While I do still occasionally make my beloved fruit desserts, I find I get more joy from dessert prep if I make something that he’s interested in sharing with me (plus, I really shouldn't be eating all that dessert on my own).

And so for the last half decade, I've been working on expanding my dessert repertoire beyond berries, stone fruit and apples. I've made damp tea loaves, coffee cakes, cookies, bars and more. They've all been good, but I longed for something that came together a little more quickly and didn't require the use of the oven.

I found it: homemade pudding. There are two ways to make a batch of pudding from scratch. The first uses cornstarch and makes a quick and perfectly serviceable pudding. When I make pudding-filled pies or want a big batch for a potluck, that's the version I opt for. But when I want something that can be the star of the dessert course, nothing is better than rich custard-based pudding .

In my mind, the most-decadent pudding around is Geoffrey Zakarian's Dark Chocolate Pudding. It's thick, perfectly smooth and bursting with chocolate flavor. Make it for your next Weekender.

— Get all of your ingredients ready before you apply heat to anything. This pudding cooks up quickly, and you don't want to keep your chocolate waiting.

— I like to run the thickened custard through a fine-mesh sieve before adding it to the melted chocolate. This ensures a silky finished product.

— Pudding is the ideal dinner party dessert because you can make it a day ahead and keep it in the fridge until just before serving. Do make sure to press the plastic wrap right onto the surface to prevent the dreaded pudding skin.

Marisa McClellan is a food writer and canning teacher who lives in Center City Philadelphia. Find more of her food (all cooked up in her 80-square-foot kitchen) at her blog, Food in Jars. Her second cookbook, Preserving by the Pint: Quick Seasonal Canning for Small Spaces, is now available.