Spring is finally finally here ! It’s been a long time ! Even the cherry blossoms think so, they’ve been waiting to bloom and shine !  I used to garden a lot more, but ever since I have kids, I’ve been too busy growing two little humans and kind of abandoned my garden. This year, I want to at least plant some herbs, so I got some basil and cilantro seeds the other day and just put them in a couple of small pots. Well, I have to wait a while before my herbs grow.  So meanwhile, I made these cute little pudding pots to enjoy. They look very realistic !  And I was so happy that I could shoot the pictures in my backyard with some sunshine ! They would make a fun little snack for the kids at Easter ! Try to pick strawberries that are smaller and longer in shape so they would look more like little carrots.  

Makes about 6-8 servings 

For the candy coated strawberries

• 180 g orange candy melts 
• 5-10 mL vegetable oil
• 8-10 strawberries (at room temperature)

1. Wash and dry strawberries leaving the stems on 
2. Melt candy melts in the microwave or over a double boiler according to package instructions 
3. Add 5-10 mL of vegetable oil to achieve desired consistency if needed 
4. Coat strawberries with candy melts, tap off excess, be careful not to break the stems 
5. Place on a tray lined with parchment paper 
6. Pour remaining candy melts into a piping bag 
7. Cut a small hole at the end of piping bag 
8. Drizzle over dried, coated strawberries 

For the chocolate pudding 

• 30 g unsweetened cocoa powder 
• 75 g granulated sugar 
• 30 g cornstarch 
• Pinch of salt 
• 500 mL milk (whole or 2%)
• 120 g semi-sweet chocolate chips 
• 5 mL pure vanilla extract 

You would also need 8 regular-sized Oreo cookies for topping

1. In a non-stick pot, mix together cocoa powder, sugar, cornstarch, salt
2. Gradually stir in milk 
3. Place over medium heat, stirring continuously until starting to bubble   
4. Add chocolate chips, stir until thickened and chocolate all melted
5. Remove from heat, mix in vanilla extract 
6. Spoon into containers, let cool and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours (a skin will form on top of pudding, but that’s OK, as we will put crushed Oreo on top)

To assemble pudding, crushed Oreo into small pieces, put on top of pudding, place a coated “carrot” on top 

Candy coated strawberries recipe adapted from lifemadesimplebakes.com