Cooking with Kids: Health(ier) Dirt Cups

Make Cooking Fun And Educational: Health(ier) Dirt Cups

Made with healthy, microwave chocolate pudding

Now you can serve this healthy little treat in no time at all to satisfy those chocolate pudding cravings. This chocolate pudding is so good, it can be eaten warm or cold. If you are making the “dirt cups” it will need to be chilled.

Watch our video Cooking with Kids | Healthier or Clean Dirt Cups (Pudding)

Healthy, Microwave Chocolate Pudding Ingredients

1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups almond milk

Dirt Cups

1 cup Annie’s organic cocoa bunnies
1 tub Truwhip Whipped Topping, thawed

Prep and Directions:

Adult: Help child count and measure out all of the ingredients in advance, this will help adding to the microwave safe bowl and cooking that much easier.

Child:

Combine the first four ingredients (coconut sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch and salt) in a microwave safe mixing bowl. Stir together dry ingredients.
Add vanilla and gradually stir in almond milk.
Microwave on high for six minutes, stirring every two minutes untill smooth.
Chill for 2 to 3 hours.

Dirt Cups:

Use Microwave Chocolate Pudding that has been chilled. 1 cup Annie’s organic cocoa bunnies, finely crushed. Add a little bit of extra chocolate cocoa powder to crushed cereal for a darker color. 1 tub Truwhip Whipped Topping, thawed.

Spoon cereal crumbles into the bottom of the 4 cups. Add the pudding that’s been mixed with the whipped topping into each cup.

Top with more cereal crumbs.

Get creative with your kids and together make “bugs” out of fruits. We made caterpillar’s using grapes and ladybugs with strawberries and blueberries.

Eat! Talk! Enjoy! (Language tips to help encourage speech with the recipe on pg. 2)

Language Time Tips:

1. Build vocabulary: Use nouns and actions. Nouns: Chocolate, pudding, cup, vanilla, sugar, milk, etc… Action words: pour, mix and stir.

2. Colors and Size: There are some different colors in this mix: Brown for the chocolate, white for the cornstarch, green for the “caterpillar” grapes, and red for the “lady-bug” strawberries. As you are preparing the ingredients, ask your child, “put the red ingredients on the counter”, “put the green fruit on the counter”, put the brown ingredients into the mixing bowl, etc. This will assess your child’s receptive language of colors. With all of the ingredients being different sizes ask your child, “Should w e use the smallest ingredient first?”, or What is larger, the strawberry or the grape”?

3. Comment and Describe: Encourage words such as “warm”, “creamy”, “thick” and “smooth”. Let your child taste each ingredient of the recipe and discuss the flavors. The chocolate is not sweet. The almond milk can be cold and wet. This use of commenting can help your child communicate better with regards to requesting specific foods at meals such as saying, “I w ant the sweet item”, “I w ant a soft food” (pudding), for example.

4. Sequencing and recalling information: There are definite steps to this recipe but certain ingredients should be mixed first. For example, the coconut sugar, cocoa powder and cornstarch can go into the bowl before the vanilla, and the whipped topping can go on top last. After you are done with the steps to making this yummy pudding, ask your child w hat you did first, next, etc. Discuss w hat would happen if you were to do these steps out of order?

5. Answering and asking “wh” questions: Sample “wh ” questions include: Sample “wh” questions include, “”What is this pudding for?” “What food groups are in this recipe (fruit, dairy, seasoning, etc…)?” “What makes this taste so good?”, “Why do we let the pudding “get cold” in the refrigerator?”

Literacy! Try a fun syllable activity by counting how many syllables are in each ingredient. What ingredient has the most syllables? How about the least amount of syllables?

Encourage Speech & Create Yum With These Recipes for Cooking With Kids

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This post originally appeared on our May/June 2017 Magazine

Cooking with Kids: Health(ier) Dirt Cups

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