Have you heard of Carrot Pudding? Or maybe in your family it’s called ‘Christmas’ Pudding, and it graces the table at Christmas time and even at other various holiday meals including Easter. (very confusing to a curious kid!) It’s a traditional steamed pudding made with carrots, raisins, nuts and spices. It’s like a mushier carrot cake and the flavors blend gorgeously.
Did I just say gorgeous? Gorgeous. As in it’s gorgeous outside. Bee-a-you-tee-ful. The sun is shining without a single cloud in the sky, the windows are open, and a crisp breeze is lightly rustling the curtains.
Despite my obvious case of Spring Fever, Easter is here once again so I should probably be gearing up to make this years batch of pudding. Right? But steamed pudding reminds me of something cozy and warm. And that reminds of the dark days of Winter that we just weathered for months. And I don’t want to go back just yet. I don’t wanna. But then there’s my cathartic need to create and maintain family/holiday traditions every year. Are you begining to see my conundrum?
Then my friend Blair over at The Seasoned Mom posted this awesome idea for carrot cake snack pack pudding cups. And I was sold.
I don’t know what it is about snack packs, but no matter how old they get the sons still seem to go nuts over them. Any recipe where I can sneak a few extra fruits and veggies into a snack that tastes like dessert? You guessed it, that’s a good day. I got to enjoy all those traditional favors without any chilly reminders. And I still technically served them carrot pudding. And best of all, it was fun. Everybody wanted to make there own. And while there’s a 50/50 chance at any given holiday whether the sons will actually even partake of the carrot pudding when offered, everybody loved these. Everybody. Even the hubs wanted to know when I’d break open the second pack and if I’d fix em up the same way.
So guess what we’re having for dessert tomorrow night in addition to our Easter bunny cake?
Carrot Cake Pudding Cups
4 vanilla flavored snack packs
1 large carrot (or 2 small carrots), finely grated
4 tbsp raisins
1 tsp cinnamon, quartered
nutmeg and cinnamon
18-20 Nilla Wafer cookies, crushed
cream cheese frosting
Directions
1. Put your grated carrot into a microwave-safe bowl. Sprinkle on a few drops of water, cover, and microwave the shredded carrot for 30 seconds, or until softened. Set the cooked carrot aside and allow them to cool completely.
2. Stir about 1 scant tbsp of the cooked carrots, 1 tbsp of raisins, 1 tbsp of cookie crumbs (optional), ¼ tsp cinnamon, and a dash of nutmeg into each pudding cup, until evenly incorporated.
3. Top the prepared pudding cup with an additional tablespoon of cookie crumbs. Pipe the cream cheese frosting on top of the cookie crumbs and sprinkle on a dash of cinnamon. Voila! Enjoy your fun & festive Easter treat.
4 Sons 'R' Us 