Happy Earth Day! As silly as it sounds, this was one of my favorite holidays growing up. Why? Because every year my Mom would make our family "dirt cups" for dessert to celebrate.
For those of you who aren't familiar with your traditional dirt cup, they are typically chocolate pudding cups topped with crushed Oreos and gummy worms. Lots of sugar - and absolutely delicious! I've always had a sweet tooth and loved these "dirt cups" as a child, but my Mom would only make them for us on Earth Day - probably because of all of the sugar in them. But, because they were just for Earth Day it made them special and Earth Day itself became a special holiday because our whole family would look forward to having this special dessert.
I am someone who loves tradition. From small to big traditions there is something so sentimental about doing the same thing every year and remembering years past.
Because of my love for both dirt cups and traditions I decided to make my own version of a dirt cup for Earth Day this year. My version of a dirt cup is plant based though. It is so yummy but so much better for you than the original thing. Also, it's very quick and easy to make - always an added bonus!
Instead of your typical dirt cup pudding mix I made my own plant based nutella inspired pudding recipe that is super simple. All this recipe really entails is adding all of the ingredients to a blender and blending it up. It literally takes minutes.
I chopped up 1/4 cup of hazelnuts and added them into the blender along with 3/4 of a cup of hazelnut milk. You really could use any sort of nuts and nondairy milk. I went with hazelnut because I love the taste of nutella - I just don't think you can beat the hazelnut chocolate combo!
Along with the hazelnuts and hazelnut milk I also added 1 ripe banana, 1/2 of an avocado, 3 pitted dates (this is our natural sweetener), and 2 tbsp of cacao.
Blend all of this up until it's smooth and pour it into two glasses.
While you could technically eat the pudding at this point I would recommend chilling it to help it thicken a little bit and set up. I would refrigerate it for at least an hour, although a few hours would be preferable. You could even let it chill overnight.
After making the pudding portion of this dessert it's time to make the topping. Instead of the traditional crushed oreos for the dirt topping I made a granola. Preheat your oven to 350F. Stir together 1/2 cup of oats, 1 tablespoon of rinsed quinoa, 1/2 tablespoon of cocoa nibs, and 2 tablespoons of chopped hazelnuts.
After mixing those ingredients together you can start on the wet ingredients. Heat 1/2 tablespoon of coconut oil in a small pot. Once the coconut oil is melted stir in 1/2 tablespoon of pure maple syrup, 1/2 tablespoons of hazelnut milk, and 1/2 tablespoon of cacao powder. Remove the mixture from the heat and pour it over your dry granola ingredients. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together until everything is fully coated.
Put the granola into an 8x8 baking pan and place it into the oven for about 25 minutes. It's that simple!
Before you dig in, it's time to assembly your dirt cups. To assemble the cups split the granola between the two "pudding" cups. Instead of adding the more traditional gummy worms, I added mint leaves to my dirt cups. I thought this gave them a fun extra Earth Day touch! Of course you can always add the gummy worms instead or in addition to the mint leaves as well.
I hope you all have a wonderful Earth Day! What a sweet day to slow down and allow the creation to stir up our love and awe of the Creator.
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hand" - Psalm 19:1
PLANT BASED DIRT CUP RECIPE
serving size: 2
prep time: 10 minutes
total time: 35 minutes + chilling time
Nutella "Pudding" Ingredients:
1/4 chopped hazelnuts
3 pitted dates
3/4 cup of hazelnut milk
1 ripe banana
1/2 ripe avocado
2 tbsp. cacao
Nutella Granola Ingredients:
1/2 cup of oats
1 tbsp. rinsed quinoa
1/2 tbsp. cacao nibs
2 tbsp. chopped hazelnuts
1/2 tbsp. coconut oil
1/2 tbsp. pure maple syrup
1/2 tbsp. hazelnut milk
1/2 tbsp. cacao powder
Toppings:
Mint leaves
and/or gummy worms
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 F
Chopped the hazelnuts into small pieces
Pit the dates if not already pitted
Place the chopped hazelnuts as well as the pitted dates into the blend with the hazelnut milk, banana, avocado, and cacao.
Blend until smooth
Split the pudding into two glasses and refrigerate for at least an hour
Mix oats, quinoa, cacao nibs and chopped hazelnuts in a small bowl
Heat up the coconut oil in a small pot over the stove
Add the maple syrup, hazelnut milk, and cacao powder to the melted coconut oil. Remove from the heat.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients until the dry ingredients are completely coated.
Place the granola into an 8x8 baking pan and bake for about 25 minutes.
Before serving add the granola to the top of the pudding.
Decorate with a mint leaf and enjoy!