Fruit Swirled Puddin’ Pops

Yum.
 
In this first trial run, I used vanilla pudding and my leftover $0.99/lb cherries.  It was fabulous!  You could use any combination of pudding and fruit.  I want to try lemon pudding with blueberries and chocolate pudding with strawberries next.

1 package instant pudding and the milk required to prepare it
1 cup fruit, fresh or frozen (cherries, strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries, etc)
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp water

First, prepare the fruit by pitting it, stemming it or  whatever it requires.  Then put it in a small saucepan and add the water and sugar.  Bring it to a simmer over medium heat and stir it to break it up.  Let it simmer for about five to ten minutes, or until it looks good and kind of syrup-y.  Transfer it to a blender or food processer and make it into a nice puree.  Transfer that to the refrigerator or the freezer, if you’re that impatient, and let it cool down.  It takes about 30 minutes.

Next, prepare the pudding according to the directions on the package, making sure to use the “pudding” directions, and not the “pie filling” directions. 

While it is still kind of runny, layer your pudding and fruit puree into popsicle molds or dixie cups.  You know what else would be perfect for this?  Empty Trix yogurt cups.  We used to save them for my youngest to drink out of when she was tiny, because I hated having sippy cups at the dinner table.  The kids just wanted to fill up on milk and not eat, so using tiny cups solved that problem.  They would be reusable, as opposed to the dixie cups that would just have to be thrown away.  You can get popsicle sticks at the DollarTree for, you got it, $1.

Once I had them all layered, I took a long skewer and swirled the layers around a bit.

Insert the tops to the molds, or regular popsicle sticks if you’re using cups.  

Place them in the freezer for at least a few hours.  The longer, the better, I say.  Run water over the cups to loosen them and enjoy!