Easy Halloween Pudding Cups
The pudding cups you remember from childhood, made without dyes! Perfect for your Halloween get-together.
Ingredients
- 3 cups full-fat canned coconut milk
- 1 cup fresh baby spinach (loosely packed)
- 1 ½ cups cane sugar
- ¼ cup cornstarch or arrowroot powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 4 egg yolks
- 2 whole vanilla beans (or 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract)
- 2 tbsp softened butter (use dairy-free butter if needed)
- 12 chocolate sandwich cookies
Instructions
- In your blender, combine the coconut milk with the spinach and blend on high power until the spinach is completely dissolved into the milk. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, whisk the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Add in the (very) green milk and the egg yolks. Whisk everything until combined.
- Slice the vanilla beans down the center and scrape out the seeds. Put the seeds and the pods in the pan.
- Now, turn the heat to medium and whisk gently as the pudding heats. Give it about 5 minutes to start heating up and getting bubbly. Don’t rush it by turning the heat up otherwise you’ll scorch the bottom of the pudding.
- Once it starts to bubble, let it bubble for about a minute and then remove from the heat, take out the vanilla bean pods and gently fold in the butter.
- While the pudding cools in the pan for a minute, draw the faces (or have the kids draw the faces!) on the plastic cups.
- Divide the pudding among the cups (I used 4, 9 oz cups).
- Cover with plastic wrap, being sure to press against the surface of the pudding so it won’t develop a skin.
- Chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours. While the pudding is chilling, throw the cookies into a Ziploc bag and crush using a rolling pin.
- Once the cups are cooled, top with crushed cookies, and serve to excited children (or parents).
Notes
- These are best served the same day, although they still tasted good the day after.
- Plan to make them in the morning so the cups have time to cool, and then add the cookies at the last minute so they don’t get soggy.
- The original recipe uses 3 cups whole milk. I used full-fat coconut milk because I like the flavor/texture it provides.
- On the flipside, you could also totally use regular old food coloring and Oreos, it is Halloween after all. You could probably even use store-bought pudding mix with either method (spinach or dye).
- Whole vanilla beans can be expensive, but sometimes you can find them at TJ Maxx or Homegoods.
The nutrition facts provided are calculated using a third-party tool and are estimates only. Actual nutritional content may vary based on the ingredients and brands you use, as well as portion sizes. For accurate results, please consult a registered dietitian or nutritionist.